Random Glimpses: Side Stories
by 0atis
Summary: One shots from both timelines from Random Glimpses.
1. Ella in the Middle

**In case you missed it these are side stories to my fics Glimpse and Random Glimpses. If you haven't read them, please do.  
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* * *

**Story 01: Ella in the Middle – Florida Universe (Ella age 5)**

Aurora's cries greeted Ella as she walked into the kitchen, Brittany sat at the table trying her best to get the squalling baby to calm down. Her little sister had recently turned two and seemed determined to make a fuss about everything always all the time, and even moreso that day. It sucked, because Aurora seemed to require more attention now than ever before and before she required a lot.

Ella approached her mother and watched as she cooed and consoled the girl without so much as glancing at her. It made her frown a little, because her mama had always known when she was nearby and would pick her up and shower her with kisses. But ever since the baby had started to show in her belly she hadn't been picked up and though she still got kisses it wasn't the same, her mothers only really did that with Aurora anymore.

All she knew was at the moment she wanted attention, so she spoke up, "Mama?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

Ella frowned. The response was given over the shoulder and hadn't been focused on her at all, she wanted her mother to look at her, "Mama," she said again a little louder.

"Yes?" this time Brittany turned to look, but only then did Ella realize she had nothing to say, so she shrugged.

Brittany was about to say something, but Aurora let out a particularly piercing scream as she continued to cry her crocodile tears and just like that the attention was gone. Ella stood trying to think of something to need, something that would regain her mama's attention, when Violet came flying in the room, a large drawing in her hand that she immediately held in front of her to be viewed.

"Mama, look! It's a TigeRex! A T-Rex mixed with a tiger!" she exclaimed, hopping up and down.

Looking the artwork over Brittany smiled widely before taking the drawing, keeping it out of reach of Aurora's flailing arms, "That's amazing! You did such a good job," she said before giving Violet a big kiss on the cheek.

"You can have that one, I'm going to make another one of him eating a buffalo," Violet said proudly before running back the way she came.

Standing, Brittany scooped a still crying Aurora into her arms and went to the refrigerator to pin the picture up next to all of Violet's other ones. Ella followed slightly behind still trying to think of something that might get her mother's attention off of the baby, but she came up with nothing. And with the infant screaming even louder now she knew she wasn't going to just be noticed at random.

Dejected, she left the kitchen and went to the living room where Violet sat in the midst of piles of papers and crayons already working on the promised picture. It was difficult to pick through the clutter, but she finally made it to the center where the coffee table was and sat down. Picking up a blank sheet of paper she had the thought that maybe if she drew something her mother would pay attention to her, at least for a few minutes. With no better plans she picked up a blue crayon and started drawing only to have it plucked from her hands by Violet.

"No, you gotta use black crayons to draw with, you color it in with the other ones." She said replacing the blue with black.

Ella didn't particularly want to use black, but her sister knew more about drawing so she did. She did her best to draw her mama and even though the result didn't look exactly like her, she was proud of it. Then, since she still had room when she was done, she drew her mommy, because mama looked funny standing alone. When she had finished she colored them in, drew a sky, grass and their house. The project was pretty fun and when it was completely done she showed Violet.

Her sister's blue eyes narrowed in concentration as she looked it over, "It looks good, but you drew outside the lines a lot."

Ella's excitement to show her mother faded a little, "Oh."

"Don't feel bad, I said it looks good. Who are they anyway?" Violet asked leaning over the picture to try and figure it out.

Her face fell further and she crumpled the drawing before throwing it on the floor with Violet's discarded works.

"Why'd you do that?" Violet asked looking confused.

"'Cause I don't want it," she grumbled and walked away.

She had no idea where she was going, but as she walked she passed the half open door that went into Santana's office where she knew her mommy was currently working. Feeling a burst of hope she knocked on the door and to her complete delight Santana turned to look at her and smiled.

"Hey baby girl, what's up?"

Once again Ella had nothing to say or show, so she just shook her head. "Can I come in here with you?" she knew that she and her sisters weren't allowed to come in, but they did on occasion if someone was around to watch them.

"I'm still working right now, so you'll have to keep still."

Joyously Ella nodded and scrambled in and into Santana's lap, "I'll stay here."

And she did, but after a while it got really boring.

Worse yet she was back to where she started; her mommy was _with_ her, but not really paying attention _to_ her. Ella sighed a little, and again when her audible boredom went unnoticed as she looked around the room for something of interest to see. There were pictures of her parents when they were younger, some were just the two of them and others had them with a group of other people. The only two she recognized of the group were aunt Quinn and uncle Puck.

There were other pictures of Brittany dressed like a cat that were pretty cool, she remembered seeing a video of her mama dancing in the outfit and it had been inspiring. Watching Santana type super fast on a computer while reading a bunch of papers at the same time was amazing, too. Ella didn't really understand all of it, but she sort of understood that her mommy owned a lot of things because she was really smart and good with money. It seemed like everyone in their family had special skills but her.

Looking at the stacks of paper still left to go through she wondered if maybe she could be of some help, then not only would her parents start to pay her more attention, but she might find that she was good at it. Eagerly she reached out to try and straighten the stacks of papers and hurry to hand the next one over before Santana could reach for it, but in her haste she nearly knocked another stack over.

Lightning fast reflexes were the only thing that saved the day as Santana caught it before it fell. Ella pulled her hands away quickly, but was well aware that she had overstayed her welcome.

"Listen, I'll be done in a little while, why don't you go play for a bit and I'll come join you soon, okay?" Santana said tensely.

Without a word Ella slid off her lap and went straight to her room; she wasn't in the mood to play, but it was the only activity really left to her at the moment. Brittany didn't allow her or Violet into the basement without her there to supervise them and she felt even less like dancing than playing, so she dropped to the floor and picked up her dolls to half heartedly make them go out for a picnic.

The plastic family had barely gotten to dessert when she heard her mommy saying something down the hall as she emerged from her office. Excitedly Ella tossed her dolls aside and ran out to meet her mother, but saw she had gone straight for the kitchen where she joined Brittany in fawning over an inexplicably still crying Aurora.

The baby was past inconsolable as she screamed at the top of her lungs, even when Santana took her from her wife and tried to quiet her. Ella could feel envy boiling in her stomach at the sight so she averted her eyes, stomped back to the living room and flopped on the couch watching as Violet put the finishing touches on her drawing. Her sister rose, ready to fly into the kitchen to show off her new masterpiece, but then stopped.

Ella knew why before she even turned around as Aurora's screams indicated that their parents had entered the room.

"Alright girls, we're going to pack some overnight bags, because you two are staying with uncle Puck tonight."

"Sweet!" Violet cheered.

Ella didn't know why, but her anger only flared. She loved Puck, Quinn, Joseph, Caleb and even little Aaron, but the thought of being sent away so they could have more time with the baby made her furious.

"Why do we have to go?" she growled, surprising herself and both her parents.

"Because Aurora needs to go to a doctor and it's almost your bedtime," Brittany explained kindly.

Ella didn't complain. She only got up and went to her room - not that she was needed, her parents would pack her bag with or without her.

-As always when Quinn wasn't home, the Puckerman house was alive with noise. Ella stood in the doorway feeling annoyed that her mama hadn't bothered to walk them inside, she just passed her and Violet off to Puck before driving away to rejoin Santana. For a brief moment Ella figured she might get a moment of Puck's time, but Aaron was gurgling happily in his arms and she gave up on that.

She knew it wasn't nice to think, but she hated babies.

They were herded into the tv room where they were allowed to watch Power Ranger reruns until they fell asleep. Ella was the first one out, not because she didn't like the show, actually unbeknownst to anyone she liked it the most, but because she wanted the day and every feeling she had felt in it to be over.

Unfortunately, when she woke in the middle of the night she found they hadn't gone anywhere.

Her eyes adjusted to the darkness to find that she and all the other children had all been moved to the giant bed in the guest bedroom. She grimaced at the way her heart hurt, because no one had tucked her in or given her a kiss goodnight. She had merely been shoved into the same bed as everyone else without another thought. Turning over she searched for Violet, but found she was next to Caleb and her sister was on the far side by Joseph; her eyes prickled a little, because that made her sad. Violet _always_ slept next to her when they weren't at home, but in all fairness this place really was just an extension of their own house. They were over all the time and this wouldn't have been the first occasion where Puck put them all in the guest room since it was close, easy and fit all of them. It wasn't even the first time Violet had fallen asleep away from her at the Puckerman's though usually they were together. But all the same it upset her.

Quietly she got out of bed and walked around to the other side, crawling back in behind Violet. There was very little room and Violet had her back turned, but Ella curled into it anyway. Violet might not have needed her, but Ella sure needed her sister.

After a while she was able to go back to sleep, finally finding peace in the familiarity of Violet's warmth. In the morning she supposed it was the lack of that warmth that woke her up.

She found the bed totally empty causing that, now common, twist of pain to come back. Hadn't anyone even noticed she wasn't awake? How had they all gotten up without her hearing?

Mumbling unhappily she made her way to the kitchen where she saw the answer to half her questions: Quinn was home.

In stark contrast to how things were when Puck was in charge, Quinn demanded peace, quiet and calm. The table only held the sounds of polite conversation and utensils scraping plates.

"Morning Ella, would you like eggs and bacon or cereal?" Quinn asked as she grabbed a cup to pour some juice.

The question was automatic and she, like everyone else, didn't even look at her, though when Ella failed to answer sharp hazel eyes met hers.

"How come no one woke me up?" she asked.

Violet was the one who spoke up, "We tried but you didn't move, so I told everybody to let you sleep."

For some reason that answer didn't make her feel any better.

"Don't worry there is still plenty left to eat, so what'll it be?" Quinn asked, her voice softer than before.

"I'm not hungry," Ella answered and turned to leave the kitchen and go back to bed.

Crawling under the covers and hiding her face, she hoped to block the world out and everything it made her feel, but of course her covers were pulled back by Quinn who was looking at her worriedly.

"Hey, are you feeling alright?" she asked in a tone gentler than Ella had ever heard from her.

"M'fine," she mumbled into the covers.

"Aurora's going to be okay, if that's what you're worried about. I talked to Santana an hour ago and she said it was an earache and that they've taken care of it. She's all better now."

Ella nodded, remembering the whole reason they were there was because her sister had been sick. "Kay," was all she said, feeling a little bad that she had forgotten.

She kind of wanted to talk to Quinn, to ask what to do to get her parents to pay attention to her again, but she didn't know how to say what was in her head, so she said nothing.

Quinn stayed for a while longer before leaving Ella to stew under the covers until a few minutes later her parents came and it was time to get dressed and go.

Violet hugged everyone goodbye, but Ella just stood by the car door. She waited in slight impatience as the adults spoke and silently wished to be old enough to drive away herself. Quinn seemed to be taking extra long saying goodbye and for a moment she suspected that the conversation was about her, but suddenly it broke up and she was packed into the car with everyone else.

The whole ride home she stared out the window rather than watch how Violet played with Aurora in her car seat. She could still remember a time when her sister would play with her like that but apparently that was all over; she wasn't a baby, she wasn't the youngest and she didn't do anything special… when put that way even she couldn't think of a reason to pay attention to her.

* * *

Home was no better once they got back.

Ella had assumed that with Aurora done constantly crying maybe she wouldn't be ignored as much but that turned out to be completely false. For the week after the hospital scare, both her mothers were extra attentive to the baby and at least one of them was near her always, leaving the other to watch her and Violet and handle all the chores in the house. And between that and school and her sister's ability to talk nonstop for hours there was never much time left for her.

Even her once favorite pastime of dancing was ruined. The one activity where her mama would give her and Violet equal attention turned into her only helping Violet, because she couldn't get the steps right. Worse yet, because Ella had gotten them on the first try, it felt like being punished for getting it right. Brittany had shown her the next set of steps before returning to Violet to help her catch up, and even when Ella faked having trouble she was told to wait a moment.

A moment never came.

Soon enough practice was over and when they left the basement Brittany's attention went straight to Aurora, and Santana was there, but constantly on the phone with someone, either to talk or text.

It wasn't unusual, she had always been busy, but now it felt like her mommy was doing it less for work and more because she thought her daughter was boring. Especially because she always listened to Violet's never ending tales.

Which may have been why Ella went off one Saturday morning when she went into the kitchen and saw her mommy put up another one of Violet's drawings while congratulating her. It may have been, but she wasn't sure, because nothing she felt made sense to even her. For some reason it made her angry to watch her mommy smiling at Violet as her mama did as well while holding Aurora. She felt left out, useless and a bunch of other things that were just plain confusing as she marched over to the refrigerator, yanked the picture down and ripped it in half.

The action itself felt good. In fact, it felt great. It relieved some of the building pressure in her chest and made her calm again, but then, when she looked around at all the shocked faces, it didn't feel so good anymore.

Violet was the first one to react by making a move like she was going to hit her, and maybe she was, but she didn't get close enough for Ella to find out, because Santana grabbed hold of the older girl and pulled her away.

"Why'd you do that, Ella?" Violet snapped.

And just like that the small girl felt worse, because she had somehow managed to anger her sister. Violet never got angry, not at her, not once in her whole life could she think of a time anyone had shouted at her like that.

But for some reason she couldn't apologize, a voice inside her said it was a bad idea, that she shouldn't back down because she had done the right thing.

"You have too many anyway!" she shouted back.

"What's gotten into you?" Santana asked like she'd never seen her before and Ella felt absolutely horrible because she was making her already dire situation worse.

It wasn't until Brittany pulled the paper out of her clenched fist that Ella realized she still had the drawing in her hands. Quickly she let go and her mama collected both halves handing them and Aurora over to Santana.

Her mommy took them and after a quick look from Brittany guided Violet out of the kitchen, suggesting they go look for some tape.

Alone in the room with her mama, suddenly she didn't want the attention she had been craving for so long anymore.

"Ella," she said.

Her voice wasn't angry, but it was very stern, making the small girl turn to face her, "Yeah?" she responded dropping her eyes to her feet.

"Why did you rip her drawing?"

Ella answered honestly and shrugged.

"It couldn't have been for no reason, I know you wouldn't have done that without having some idea."

She tried to figure out how to say it, how to communicate what was bubbling inside her even now, but she didn't know the words to accurately describe what she felt. Instead she said the only thing she knew she could explain.

"You like Aurora and Violet better than me," she said quietly; it was the best she could do.

And when she saw how it made her mama's face fall, she wished she hadn't said anything.

"What makes you think that?"

"You don't spend time with me anymore, just them."

"Ella we're together all the time-"

"But you're always with one of them too." She knew she wasn't being fair, because she really did love her sisters being around her, but it was the best way she had to tell her mother that she didn't always like it.

"Sweetheart, we have a big family, that means we can't give you all my attention all the time."

"But you give Violet and Aurora lots more than me."

Brittany frowned, "Is this about when she was sick? Sweetie, your sister needed extra attention, she was better when she came home, but she could have easily become sick again so we had to watch her very closely to make sure she was alright."

Ella blinked back tears, because she didn't want to be a crybaby, but this was too hard and she didn't know what to say to defend herself. How would she tell the woman in front of her that she felt the time spent between them all was disproportionate between _both_ parents?

"I know," she said sadly, giving up hope that she would ever find the right words.

"Ella look at me," Brittany said softly and she did, "So what you're saying is, though I spend a lot of time with you girls, you feel I don't spend enough time with _you_. Why do you feel that way?" Her question was gently curious as she reached forward and rubbed Ella's back.

"You spend the most time with her when we dance."

Brittany nodded, "Because she needs help the most and we both know I don't only work with her. Even so I still find it hard to believe that you decided to rip up her drawing, because she needs more help than you when dancing."

"I'm mad," she said, picking one identifiable feeling from the jumble and hoping her mother could figure it out somehow.

"At who? Why?"

"I don't know!" Ella cried and tried to stomp away but Brittany had a firm hold on the back of her shirt and pulled her back.

"You're mad," she said, clarifying, "And you're clearly very sad, but you don't know why."

Ella nodded wiping angrily at her tears. "I'm scared too," she admitted, a little happy to have identified three of the emotions that made up the storm cloud in her head.

"Scared of what?" Brittany asked gently.

"Violet's a good drawer and Aurora's a baby so everybody likes her, but I don't have anything special."

"You're very special Ella," her mother said brightly, "You dance so well, you're smart, pretty and a joy to be around."

"You still love them more," she said, because that's how she felt.

The smile on Brittany's face evaporated again, leaving her with a blank look that Ella was sure was hiding hurt, "You really feel that way?"

She nodded meekly, "You and mommy are always busy or listening to Violet or taking care of Aurora."

The tall woman seemed to consider this for a long time before she offered a small smile and nodded, "Okay, well first off you owe your sister an apology, a big one, complete with a hug," she said and Ella nodded her understanding. "Next, I want you to understand something. Your mommy and I love you so very much, there is nothing you could do or not do that would change that. We know you are incredibly special and exceptionally talented, even if you don't see it, but if somehow you were boring and didn't have a single talent it wouldn't change how much we love you at all."

Ella had always known that on some level, but at the moment it was hard to see, not when everyone was cooing over the baby and the refrigerator was covered in Violet's work.

Brittany brought her to find her sister, who surprisingly had decided that the rip was a good thing and had shredded it into several more pieces. She had taped them back together in a different order making a weird mishmash of the creature that had been on the page before. Seeing them enter, she leapt up to show her mama, but stopped when her eyes fell on Ella and she hid it behind her back.

"I'm sorry I ripped it," Ella said meekly, opening her arms to offer a hug. One she didn't know how badly she wanted until that moment.

Violet looked back to Santana who encouraged her to move forward. After placing her drawing safely out of reach her sister, Violet embraced her and Ella hugged back with all her might.

"I'm really sorry," she repeated, because she was. Although everything was still askew within her, she didn't want Violet to hate her.

"It's okay, it looks better this way… but don't rip up the rest, okay?"

Ella nodded and held on tight until Violet pulled away and once again she felt alone.

The day passed with no change; she still danced with her mama and Violet, but her sister as usual had difficulties that needed all the attention she desperately wanted. Santana was the same as well, either carrying Aurora around, working or listening to one of Violet's long-winded explanations of her newest artistic creation.

When she went to bed, she was tucked in and kissed goodnight by both her mothers and that provided a small comfort as she fell asleep.

* * *

Ella woke to the sensation of being shaken slightly, sleepily she turned over and saw blonde hair and blue eyes fill her vision. Frowning a little, she wondered what Violet was doing up so early, but when her vision cleared she saw that it was actually Brittany standing over her.

"Mama?"

"Hey, come on get up," she said tugging her out of bed.

"What's going on?"

"Get dressed, we have somewhere to be."

Blearily she crawled out of bed and saw that Violet was still asleep, she moved to wake her, but Brittany stopped her, "It's just us today."

Ella frowned, the confusion of being up so early keeping her from comprehending what that meant, but once she was dressed and in the car she started to get that it meant that they were going somewhere. Just the two of them.

They drove out to pick up breakfast at a small café Ella had recently learned she loved and for the first time that she could remember she saw the sun rise over the hills with her mama at her side.

With her eyes fixated on the view in the distance, she was a little surprised when Brittany spoke, "Ella, I know that you did what you did yesterday, because you didn't know how else to express yourself. But taking out your anger or fear on others is never acceptable and I don't want you thinking that the next time you get upset and do something to hurt your sister I'll take you out for breakfast."

Ella nodded, nibbling on her bagel with a small frown, "I know," she mumbled.

"In this case however, I think you may have a point. Your mommy and I couldn't love you more if we tried, but I can understand how you're feeling pushed aside and we don't want any of you girls to feel that way. So what do you say? Want to make this a regular thing? Maybe once a month mommy and I do something with you?"

The child's face exploded into a smile, "Just us?"

"Yeah, I talked to her about it and she promises no talking or texting, it'll just be you and her and another week it'll be you and me. We'll do the same for Violet if she agrees, and Aurora when she's older."

"I want to!" she said excitedly.

Her mama smiled and kissed her softly on the head, "I thought you might."

Kicking her feet happily, Ella returned to her meal appreciating the day even more, eager to think of all the things she could do with her parents on their special days.

"Ella?" Brittany questioned, causing the girl to turn to her again. "You do know I love you, don't you? I know I told you, but you do feel it, right?"

She smiled brilliantly, "Yeah, I'm your little storm baby," Ella said, recalling the temporary nickname from when her mama had told her the story of when she was born.

Brittany smiled back and gave her another kiss, "That's right, don't ever forget it."

* * *

True to their word, her parents did stop every few weeks and dedicated an entire day to their daughters in turn. Ella didn't know what Violet got out of the trips, but for her it was everything she could have dreamed of. When she was with her mama they went out for breakfast and often they would go to Pop n' Lock to dance together. Sure, the basement was still there, but it was a place away from everyone else where there were no interruptions. Some days they would play together in the park by the house or simply sit in the grass and talk.

Her mommy would turn her phone off when they went out and they would spend hours talking and laughing without her checking once to see if someone had called. They went to movies together and sometimes just drove along the coast, taking in the scenery while sitting in a comfortable silence that was rarely interrupted with words.

With both her parents giving her such close attention she had to conclude that they didn't love her any less than her sisters. Even though she still didn't have a talent she was particularly proud of or anything overly interesting to say, both of her mothers assured her that she was a joy to be around and kept stressing that she was an exceptional dancer. She didn't see it, but with them spending whole days with her without getting bored she couldn't argue the point and just had to accept that she was pretty special.

* * *

A/N: Feedback is appreciated. Since this follows no grand bigger picture and is just random looks into the characters lives I will entertain suggestions for one shots no promises but if I can swing it I'll write it so far I plan to have four.

As always I'm trying to use one universe to explain the other.


	2. Worse for Wear

**Story 02: Worse for Wear - Ohio Universe (Ella, age 7)**

_"Hey mom, look! It's a Eskimo!" Violet exclaimed as she pointed to the remains of the slice of pie she had been shuffling around on her plate._

_Brittany leaned over and smiled widely at the mess as she apparently saw what Violet was talking about, "And he's fishing!" she laughed._

_Violet nodded enthusiastically and quickly turned the mess to Ella who frowned mildly, it just looked like pie crumble to her. Not wanting to be left out she forced her cheek to lift in a weak smile and offered a small laugh. Satisfied Violet took her plate back and began adding something else to the abstract art._

_Ella watched frowning slightly, wondering, not for the first time, if they were just messing with her. Her mother and Violet always seemed so in tune and were constantly laughing at things she didn't know were jokes. It hadn't really bothered her that much before now because a lot of the time Santana would seem just as lost and they would share a laugh born of their combined lack of understanding, but Santana wasn't there. And even if she was she wouldn't talk to Ella, not unless it was to yell about her behavior._

_Her frown deepened and she poked her own slice of pie trying to see something in it besides destroyed pastry._

_"What's wrong, baby?" Brittany asked, noting Ella's continued silence._

_"Nothing," she responded reflexively. It was her default answer to that question and had been since the day when she had come home to find Santana kissing Ms. Novak and everything stopped making sense._

_Her mother seemed to notice that the statement wasn't entirely true, but didn't press the matter, because she also seemed to know that Ella really didn't want to talk about it. A worried look crossed her features before she rubbed Ella's back softly trying to give comfort that the small girl couldn't really feel since she didn't think she deserved it. She felt like she should have told her mother about what she saw Santana doing, but she didn't and she couldn't. Ella had no idea what any of it meant for their family, but she was sure sharing would make things really bad. And even though she had threatened to tell she didn't want Santana to hate her any more than she already did. She missed her so much already and only wanted her love again, telling on her seemed like a sure way to lose it forever._

_Brittany stared like someone who was dying to find out what was on her mind but Ella kept her thoughts locked up and distracted herself with finishing the pie she had lost interest in._

_"I gotta go to the bathroom," Violet announced before she hopped up and moved through the small restaurant to the bathroom nearby._

_Ella watched in slight trepidation because she was pretty sure she knew what came next._

_"You've been really quiet today," Brittany said softly._

_"Not really hungry," she replied pushing her plate away._

_Brittany considered that a moment, "You know if you ever want to talk to me about something I'm here."_

_"I know."_

_"I wish we could do this as a one on one thing. I feel like maybe you might be more willing to share if we were alone."_

_She hoped not, "There's nothing to share."_

_"Maybe I can ask Quinn to take one of you every other week so we can." she said thoughtfully._

_"I'm not hiding anything!" She exclaimed a bit louder than necessary._

_"I'm not saying you are," Brittany laughed. There was silence for almost twelve seconds before her mother bounced off to the next topic, "Oh! I meant to ask you. What do you want for Christmas?"_

_"Uh…" she hesitated because she remembered reading her top pick off in class and listening to Bradley laugh at her. She didn't care, she thought he was really stupid anyway, but then he had mentioned how weird it was for her to want one. And the last thing on earth she wanted was to seem weird to the only parent left to her._

_"Come on you have to have some idea," Brittany prompted poking her lightly in the ribs and forcing a smile to her face._

_Just then Violet came back and plopped into her seat heavily, "Hey, where does toilet water come from?"_

_"I think it's leftover sink water," Brittany said thoughtfully._

_Violet giggled and so did her mother after a moment. Ella was lost again. Were they serious? Because she was relatively sure that was wrong… or was it? Maybe she had thought the wrong thing the whole time, would she look stupid if she asked? Since everyone in her class hated it when she pointed out their mistakes she decided, regardless of whether she was wrong or they were, there was no positive outcome to questioning things further._

_"So I was just asking Ella what she wanted for Christmas, what about you?"_

_"Jimmy Neutron bed sheets," she said instantly before returning to her pie art._

_"Ella, you think of anything?"_

_"I…" She stopped again. She wanted to just ask for a chemistry set, but what if Bradley was right? As stupid as she thought he was, her mother and Violet proved constantly that there were things she just flat out didn't get for some reason or another. And just because he was stupid didn't mean he couldn't be right._

_"You don't know what you want for Christmas?" Violet said incredulously looking completely miffed._

_Fearful that she was being weird by not answering she turned to her mother and said the first thing that came to mind, "A compass."_

_She assumed that was a good answer, because her mother only nodded, smiled and finished her own slice of pie._

_Ella felt bad for lying. She wasn't sure why she should, it wasn't like it actually mattered what she wanted for Christmas, however changing her answer, like everything else, felt wrong._

_But no mater how wrong it felt she would continue to lie and tell a thousand more if it meant that her mother would love her still. She couldn't handle mom and Santana hating her, it would be too much and if it was at all within her control she wouldn't let it happen._

**Ella age 13**

Shifting her position to tuck her legs under herself Ella turned her silver compass over in her fingers. It was still one of her favorite gifts even if it had been rather spur of the moment. Recalling the past in the top branches of a half-built tree house with Violet looking through endless brochures she was able to remember how things had been before.

Not that she didn't like them now, even with all the radical changes their family had undergone.

A couple of years ago her mothers had sat her and her sisters down and they'd had a calm discussion about another addition to their family.

Aurora had been almost five at the time and as such only saw a new baby as someone else to play with, she and Violet however had been old enough to know the reality of the situation. There would be major changes in their household if another child was born, but her parents spent the evening explaining what they meant to do to keep things as normal as possible and that this would be their last pregnancy. In all honesty Ella was fine with it, the thought of them having another baby made her happy because it meant they were happy with each other and that was all she was truly concerned about. Violet had been her usual self and asked if she could pick out a name, when Brittany explained they were going with their top picks from before Aurora was born she pouted for a bit. Until Violet pointed out that Zeke rhymed easily with geek and freak, making her possible brother a primary teasing target. With that she was able to convince them that Zachary was just as good making her exceedingly happy to have had a hand in the naming process.

The talk had gone well, everyone involved was in unanimous agreement that they were okay with one more child. Her parents sold both cars to get a minivan and Aurora's room was modified to get ready for its future inhabitant.

Unfortunately, for all their hard work in arranging the room, it turned out that the new baby came with a sibling of its own.

This threw the Lopez household into a total frenzy.

They had to move out of their old house, because it was not large enough for a family of seven no matter how they divided up the rooms. On the upside they were a little closer to the Puckerman's. Her momma had quit her job at McKinley and now worked at a private school as a cheerleading coach; she had also taken up a second job on the weekends as a personal trainer to aspiring gymnasts, which paid much more than the school and the school paid a lot. She also now co-owned the Buckeye, something uncle Puck said helped him out, but Ella figured it was because he knew they needed any extra cash they could get. Even her mom had buckled down and learned how to work a computer, primarily she managed a website for Santana but dabbled in everything from eBay to web design for local businesses.

Her whole life had changed with the arrival of the twins, Zach and Simone, and between them and Aurora the house was constantly filled with a child's laughter or tears, but it wasn't something that disturbed her in the least. And though she missed their old home and had always hoped to go to McKinley under her momma's instruction, she was very pleased and completely content.

Well, not completely.

Here in the tree house her momma and Puck had partially finished she found herself thinking of her unpleasant past, because it held something her present didn't. Something she wished she had now since she felt it would make her life so much easier.

"What are you brooding about over there?" Violet asked, scowling at the paper in her hands.

"Nothing," it was what she always said when something was wrong, and she had long ago forgotten why.

"Right," her sister also possessed the knack to detect the lie and the knowledge of when not to push it. "I don't know what I want to do." she sighed looking over the brochures in her hands.

A few science fairs and local technology competitions caused colleges to already take note of her sister; the girl was waist-deep in scholarship offers before she had even started high school.

"I though you wanted to do something with planes."

She sighed again, "Not for a living. I mean I like aeronautics and building the little models and I really like it when a new idea I think of works, but… I don't see me doing it every day until I retire."

"I guess just think of what you can see yourself doing."

"My dream job would be to work on something new in a totally different field every day."

"A substitute teacher then?" Violet gave her an unamused stare, "At a college of varying degrees?" Ella tried to correct.

"I just don't want to be stuck in any one profession you know? You always hit this cap that no one can breach and if you manage to everyone in your field freaks out and swears up and down you're wrong cause they didn't think of it first and only after you're dead and gone does anyone pay you any mind."

Ella squinted as a breeze shifted the branches above them allowing the sun to beat in on her, "Um, okay."

Tossing the pamphlets aside she rubbed her temples, "What do you want to do?"

"No idea," she said easily.

"Well get ready, because the world expects you to have it figured out before you know how to drive."

"I think I want to work with kids, maybe be a teacher like momma."

Violet considered that, "Really? With Zach and Simone in there pitching a fit, you want to make that into a career?"

"I never said I was going to work with infants but I wouldn't mind it. I like babies."

A sly grin appeared on Violet's face, "I'm sure Jayden will be happy to help you out there."

Ella almost winced at the sound of her boyfriend's name because it brought her back to the problem she had been trying to forget, "Working with other people's kids is different from having your own."

"I figured with you being so baby crazy you'd be all about starting your own family."

She glared at the term 'baby crazy' but knew it was merely Violet trying to get more of a rise out of her and didn't take the bait.

"And what about you? Forget babies you are the most popular girl in school and you haven't dated anyone for more than a week."

"Okay as for that most popular BS you should know Jayden makes it very clear that anyone who so much as flirts with you will be buried under the school. Lots of people want to hook up with you, it's just your boyfriend is built like a linebacker and no one is that stupid… you know, except for Bradley."

Ella chuckled, the boy that had teased her so in elementary school had become a close friend in later years, a close friend she sensed wanted to be more, and Jayden sensed it too which was why her friendship with him as of late had been phone-based for Bradley's sake.

"You're avoiding the question."

Violet grabbed a handful of the pamphlets and showed them to her sister, "These are my romantic interests at the moment. I mean, I'm all for romance and finding the right person, but as of now the right person is going to have to find me. I have too much I want to do in life to search the globe for the perfect someone."

"What happens if you meet them and you're too wrapped up in your work?"

She shrugged, "If they're really right for me they'll know that they're going to have to wrestle my work out of my arms if they want to fit in them."

"Hmmm. I'm interested to see what kind of person that would be."

"I kind of am too, but I'm not holding my breath. If it's true love then it'll happen regardless of what career I pick."

Ella looked down at the compass in her hands and watched it sparkle in the sunlight, "What if there is no such thing?"

"As someone who's right for me?"

"As true love."

"I'm sorry, have you ever met our parents?"

Flipping the compass open she watched the needle dutifully show North and, coincidentally, the direction of their old house. "Yeah," was all she said before she snapped it shut.

A scuffling sound reached their ears announcing the arrival of Aurora as she scampered up the ladder nailed into the tree, leaves sticking out of her black hair and her blue-green eyes shimmering with excitement.

"I found a frog out by the creek! Violet, help me catch it!" she exclaimed, knowing better than to try and drag Ella out into the mud.

"I would, but I'm busy at the moment, kiddo."

The answer clearly didn't please the girl and she turned to Ella with a sigh, "Think mom'll help?"

"No, I don't think she will since she and momma told you not to leave the yard."

There were untamed woods beyond the fence of their yard and their younger sister delighted in seeing how far out she could venture and what kind of animals she could see while doing so. Even though it had led to countless bug bites, bee stings, scrapes, cuts and one broken arm. That last one had gotten her banned from going anywhere near the sparse fence behind their house, but it clearly didn't stop her from venturing out when everyone was distracted.

"I didn't go far," she said in a tone that left neither of her sisters convinced.

"He's probably gone now anyway," Violet chuckled.

With a huff the small girl plopped down next to Ella who was glad for her presence, her conversation with Violet had ruined the slight calm she had felt and she decided to dwell on the present, merely ignoring the parts about it that bothered her.

"What are you doing?" Aurora asked seeing Violet return to her pamphlets.

"Asking Ella what her problem with love is."

"You don't like love?" the girl questioned.

"Violet!" Ella snapped.

Seeing that she had touched a taboo subject Violet quickly added, "No, she's just so in love with Jayden."

"Oh."

Ella picked leaves out of Aurora's hair slowly as she pondered that. She wasn't sure if it was true or not, she kind of thought she might be in love with him, but how would she know? And as for him being her one and only…

She could imagine what it would be like to love him, she really wanted a family and could easily picture him as a good and caring father. It may have been a crazy thing to imagine when she hadn't even slept with him or anyone before, but it was easy nonetheless.

What she couldn't imagine was being in a relationship with someone and being as in love with them as her parents were with each other, and even if by some miracle she did find such a person who loved her that much, what would it matter? All the love her parents had and her momma had still been kissing another woman and likely more than that.

"Can I use your compass? I think it might be easier to get home from the woo… uh, backyard with it." Aurora asked pointing to the device still in her sister's hand.

"Good save," Violet chuckled.

"You can't have mine but you can ask mom for one. This one has my name one it, so it's just for me."

Aurora observed the engraving and her already bright eyes practically sparkled, "You can get one with your name on it?"

"Yeah."

Her little sister was ready to scramble down the ladder when a voice floated up to them from below, "Girls, dinner!"

Recognizing Santana's voice Aurora flung herself at the waist-high border of their half done tree house, "Momma, can I have a compass?" she called down.

If Santana was thrown by this it didn't show on her face, "We'll see, depends on how long it takes you to get down here and ready to eat."

Ella felt the air shift and mere seconds later saw the girl speeding into the house, Santana watched her go with a bemused smile before turning to her remaining two children, "You know she'll eat it all if you don't hurry."

As Aurora did seem to be a bottomless pit Ella made a point of exiting the tree quickly followed shortly by Violet who had to take a moment to collect her pamphlets.

The door opened to the bustle of their mom trying to wrestle two toddlers into high chairs they didn't want to be in. However, the sandy-haired twins were amateurs and she had them both ready to be fed in no time; Ella grinned as she saw them. She really did like children, maybe she would be a single parent. That appealed more than the potential tragedy one opened themselves up to if another person was involved.

Her momma had made another amazing spread and they ate in as much silence as such a large family could manage but soon, once the initial hunger was sated, casual conversation began.

The first to speak was Santana as she attempted to give Zach a mouthful of baby food he seemed think to looked better on the floor, "Did you pick a school yet Violet?"

"Not yet, don't know what I want to do," she summarized before taking a mouthful of potatoes.

"No rush though," Brittany added while skillfully keeping Simone from reaching into the jar of baby food that hovered in front of her high chair.

"Ella wudder joo goin' t'do win joo gwrow up?" Aurora asked with a mouthful of peas; a level look from Brittany got her to swallow before repeating, "What are you going to do when you grow up?"

"I don't know. I think I want to work with kids, but I don't know how."

Aurora's eyes squinted as she considered the answer, "Are you and Jayden having kids?"

"No," Ella replied quickly seeing the sharp stare coming from both parents.

"Oh, I though you loved him a whole bunch."

"C-can we talk about something else?" she said embarrassedly, picking at her food.

"How come? You shouldn't be ashamed of who you love, right mom?" Aurora asked checking to see if her statement had been recalled correctly.

Brittany smiled and nodded, "That's right sweety, but Ella isn't embarrassed of him she just doesn't want to talk about their relationship with everyone."

"I don't get it," Aurora said shoveling more food in her mouth.

"Slow down," Santana said to Zach who was now trying to eat all the baby food and the spoon it came in on. Upon seeing the way her middle child was downing her peas she elaborated, "Both of you."

"I over exaggerated her feelings on Jayden a bit, she doesn't love him _that_ much." Violet said.

"How come?"

Ella sighed.

"Because I don't believe in that kind of thing Rora," she said trying to speak low enough for only her sister to hear, but it reached her parents' ears anyway.

Brittany seemed miffed, "You don't believe in love?"

"No, I do just-" she placed her fork down, "I don't believe in it for Jayden and I, can I be excused please?" she said quickly.

More lies, and they made her just as uncomfortable as the ones she had told in the past, because her mother was looking at her with eyes that trusted every word. And her momma was looking at her with a concerned expression that looked like it was working out things in her head even she didn't understand yet.

Desperate to be alone and not amongst a group of people who all seemed to want to discuss her biggest insecurity, she took her plate to the kitchen and to her room before anyone had so much as excused her.

* * *

The next day after school Ella found herself up in the tree house again for reasons she still hadn't worked out, the outdoors were nowadays more of a Violet and Aurora thing, but as of late it had been rather comforting to be so high off the ground. Like the solution to all her problems was a change in elevation.

Her phone buzzed with a text, from Jayden no doubt, and she ignored it because whatever it was he wanted would inevitably have her leaving the tree house and she didn't want to.

Taking her compass out of its well-worn pouch she placed it on the edge of the half wall that made up the tree house and looked out in the direction it assured her was North, even though she already knew which way that was by now. She liked to think she could see the top of her old house from here, but realistically she knew she was probably off by a mile or so.

When she allowed her thoughts to drift back down to earth all the worries she had hit her at once and once again she retreated to her memories of the past. Back then she had been at an age where she still could believe in a happily ever after. Unfortunately she couldn't remember much before finding Ms. Novak in her house kissing her mother, but she did remember the other Santana, she remembered wondering what she had done when she got back home. Her parents had known each other in two worlds, in one they had been married with a family and in the other they had broken up. When she was small she had wanted to believe that the Santana she had met had gone off, found her mom and married her again, but now that she was older she felt like that was silly. Because even if they had stayed together always it didn't change the fact that their love wasn't enough.

She snapped the compass shut and stared North like the answer to life's questions might be coming over the horizon. But they weren't. There were no answers for what she felt, it was what it was and all she wanted was for a moment to be able to believe in true love again. She wanted that for herself, to be swept off her feet by someone who made her feel like she was the most important person in the world and never feel cause to doubt them, if not now then sometime. But she couldn't, she couldn't be the teen who was sure her boyfriend really loved her at such a young age, because her parents had met in middle school and still…

The circular thinking was interrupted by Violet climbing steadily up the ladder, Ella was ready to tell her that she'd rather be alone when she heard a voice behind her that didn't belong to her sister.

"We really need to finish this thing," Santana said looking out over the neighborhood, "Mainly I'm afraid that the longer it goes unfinished the likelihood of Aurora doing some insane stunt off the side will increase."

"I won't let her, she knows she's not allowed up here alone," Ella said straightening up, trying to figure out what prompted this visit.

"She's not allowed in the woods either and yet that's where I find her half the time."

Ella nodded and tried to discern Santana's intent, she usually didn't climb up unless she was actively building the tree house.

"What brings you up here?" she asked casually, deciding to give up guessing.

"You," Santana replied sitting cross legged in front of her.

"Why?"

Her eyes shifted before they met Ella's again, "About what you said last night."

Off the top of her head she couldn't remember anything that could have gotten her mother's attention until a faint thought clicked, "I swear I'm not sleeping with Jayden if that's what you're thinking."

Her jaw tensed slightly, "It wasn't… but that's good to know."

"Oh, then what do you mean?"

"I wanted to ask what you meant about not believing in love."

She winced slightly, she had kind of hoped Santana had forgotten that, "Nothing really, it was about Jayden and-"

"Please don't lie to me Ella," she said and there was a desperate pleading in her eyes that wrestled the truth from her daughter's lips.

"I just don't," she said with a small shrug.

"This is about what happened before," they both knew what she meant.

"No. I don't know. Maybe. I guess."

She bounced from response to response, finding that the closer she got to the word yes the more truthful she sounded.

Santana rubbed her neck harshly hanging her head, "Shit, Ella I-"

"You don't have to explain. It's not about you, not really. I just like Jayden and I think that's all I ever will do so I'm kind of wondering why I should bother to keep seeing him."

"What I did was inexcusable and you shouldn't let that mess up what could be something wonderful in your life. Right now you're too young to start a real romance but one day you will be old enough and it's best to keep an open mind until then. Maybe it'll be with Jayden, even though I think he's a complete tool, or someone else."

Ella flipped her compass open again and watched the needle tremble Northbound before she snapped it shut once more, "I don't see anyone loving me as much as you and mom love each other."

Santana chuckled, "Is that what you're worried about?"

"No," she said and now her voice was so quiet it almost disappeared into the light breeze that went through the branches of the tree, "I'm worried that even if I did it won't be enough."

Her mother frowned, "Enough to what?"

Ella rubbed her fingers over the name engraved in the shining silver of her compass, "To keep either of us from hurting each other."

Though she hadn't stated specifically how, Santana obviously made the connection, her eyes fell again and Ella felt bad, because she had never wanted to broach this subject ever again. It was something ugly and dark in her history and discussing it was never something she wanted to do.

"I love your mother very much and what happened between Selena and I wasn't because I stopped loving her."

Not wanting to know any more Ella nodded and tried to stand but Santana placed a hand on her shoulder making her keep her seat, "You don't have to defend yourself about her," Ella said hoping to end the conversation.

"I know I don't, but obviously not talking about it has done more harm than good. I've messed up so much in my life, but I will not let this become one of my many mistakes. I don't want you giving up hope of a happy future before you're even in high school."

"But I'm being realistic. Let's pretend that I loved Jayden with all my heart and he loved me the same, clearly it doesn't matter because one of us is still capable of…" she trailed off because she didn't want to say cheating, it was a word she hated to attach to her parents regardless of how true it was.

"In a relationship there is always that risk," Santana said slowly, "That the other person will do something to hurt you and there are more ways than one that it can happen-"

"So why tie yourself to someone like that at all?"

"Because if it's the right person the risk is worth the reward."

"Does mom think so?" she asked; it was a hard thing to say, but she just couldn't see her mother really being okay with it.

Santana ran her fingers through her hair, frowning slightly, "Yes, she wouldn't still be with me otherwise."

"But how?" she didn't want to ask things that were clearly hurting Santana to answer, but she really didn't understand how it was something they could move past.

"Loving her has been a lifelong journey and I won't say that what I did went away entirely. She has forgiven me and we are happy together, but on rare occasions I can tell she still thinks about it and it hurts her, but there is nothing I can do. She loves me enough to not bring it up or throw it in my face if we have a disagreement and we moved on, because the only other choice was to let it break us."

"That sounds awful," Ella said honestly.

"It was hard at first, but it's not awful, because there is more to us than that. Our relationship isn't defined by an affair."

The word was out in the open and hung between them like a dead animal neither wanted to see, "I guess I just don't see how it could come to that after everything you had been through together."

"We… listen, I know you aren't going to exactly want to hear this, but your mother and I started having sex before we were ready."

Ella's eyebrows went up, she hadn't expected the conversation to go there.

"It was a game we played and we didn't realize the damage it was doing to ourselves and others, so when we started a sexual relationship with each other it was still a game. But as always she figured the truth out before I did, she knew we loved each other before I even knew I liked women. It meant she had to deal with me pretending I didn't care what she did and me being ashamed for anyone to know about us for years."

That was news to Ella, she couldn't picture a version of Santana that was afraid to show her love for mom, it seemed completely absurd to the point of being comical, "You were ashamed of her?" she asked because it seemed simply impossible.

"Of how I felt about her. I was scared of what people would think and by the time I got myself together enough to tell her I loved her she was with someone else. She gave me another chance like she always does, after that we started to see each other exclusively and a little after that we were married. And I think that was the problem, she forgave so much I was able to take her love for granted, to not look ahead at the consequences, because somewhere inside me was this surety that I would be forgiven. I didn't stop to think of the enormity of the damage I was causing with Selena until I had already messed up. I'll never take her love for granted again, but it was a lesson learned at a high price."

Ella pondered what she had been told and shrugged, "Not exactly a strong case for romance."

"It's a strong case for waiting until you're ready. Sex and love aren't things you want to dabble in at thirteen, you aren't ready, and even if you are your partner more than likely isn't. That was Brittany's problem, she knew what the score was and assumed I was at least as smart as her in figuring us out, but I wasn't. My emotional growth was a bit stunted and she suffered for that. If we had waited, if I had understood her and myself better before we set a wedding date, I think everything would have been different."

"So, you're saying I should wait until I'm older to worry about falling in love?"

She shrugged, "Love isn't something you can plan for, all I'm saying is that when you do meet someone that makes your heart race don't get swept up in those feelings and forget yourself. I advise waiting until your wedding night, but knowing there is realistically no way for me to make you do that I only ask that if you are going to be intimate with someone you need to know that you're on the same relationship page. And hopefully that page is full of love and staying together forever and not leaving each other in the morning." A scowl appeared on her face as she mentioned the scenario before she shook her head clearing her thoughts, "The mess I caused wasn't because love and fidelity are fantasies, it was because I didn't know how lucky I was to have what I did. Despite my age I was still too immature to know how to get away from Selena on my own or to have avoided her in the first place."

Somehow their talk made her feel a little better, explained like that she could see how disaster had been near inevitable for them, but didn't have to be for everyone, "It all still seems like a big risk."

Santana snorted, "It's huge, and it can be so scary at times, but at others it can be so beautiful. What your mother and I feel for each other and this family far outweighs the mistakes I've made. I'm not saying it erases them or somehow makes it okay, but it allows forgiveness and healing to be possible."

She nodded and looked at her compass again feeling even lighter now, "Finding the right person at the wrong time can be pretty bad."

"It doesn't have to be, but it can lead to rough times. If it's meant to be, you'll pull through. Just be sure to always use your best judgment."

"Do you think if you and mom had split up at prom and you left entirely only to go back to her years later it would have been different?" she asked continuing to idly watching her compass do its one and only job.

A confused then considerate look crossed Santana's features, "Things would have been completely different. I don't know how I would get by without her for so long, but yeah I think it would have been good for me to figure my shit out."

Even though those weren't exactly the circumstances the other Santana described to her it still gave her a surge of hope that somewhere in the universe the woman who she had met for a few brief months was living happily with her own Brittany.

"Whatever you decide to do," Santana said cutting across her thoughts, "for the sake of your poor momma's heart could you not do it with Jayden, as he is, I repeat, _such_ a tool."

"You say that about every boy that comes over even if we're just friends," Ella giggled.

"Because boys tend to be complete tools until about thirty when they might mature."

"Uncle Puck's always seemed mature."

"Ha! Shows what you know; he is still the biggest man child I know," she laughed.

"You never dated him, maybe if you had he'd show you the mature side he shows when he's with aunt Quinn."

A bemused smile spread across her face, "Oh child, the things you don't know," she said softly caressing Ella's cheek, "Your mother and I both dated him in high school."

That was maybe the most shocking thing Santana had ever said to her ever. For a long moment she thought about it and tried to visualize it, but it was harder to do than picturing a version of her momma that wouldn't proudly kiss her wife in public.

"When you say date you mean just date, right?" she asked, her brain hurting from the mere implications of her question.

"If that helps you sleep at night," she said simply, "All I'm saying is that Puck's perceived maturity is from years of hard work from Quinn and even then it's a fleeting thing."

"No, seriously, you mean only dated right?"

"You know Puck and Quinn are another example of right person, wrong time."

Ella figured that Santana had given the answer to her question by not answering it and she decided that she did not want verbal confirmation of the single most disturbing thing she had ever learned in her life. Instead she recalled the fact that her honorary relatives had been together in high school and had a child together, one she was pretty sure she had been told at one point they still kept in touch with.

Thinking of the child now made her picture a bizarro world where her Santana was ashamed of Brittany and they were both dating Puck while he was somehow starting a teen pregnancy with Quinn.

That was so many levels of screwed up she stopped immediately, "So high school was kind crazy for you."

"And it will be for you too, that's why you should be careful, but not afraid of love."

Snapping her compass shut for a final time she returned it to its case and stood stretching, "I won't be." she said. It was an easy, honest reply.

Santana stood as well and hugged her tightly, "I can't tell you how sorry I am that I dragged you into my mess," she said and Ella could hear the sorrow in her voice.

She returned the hug with strong arms, "You already apologized even though I didn't think you needed to, not to me."

"Especially to you," Santana said holding her tighter, "I can never be sorry enough for what happened, but if nothing else learn from my mistakes and do better than me."

"Okay."

Her mother released her and smiled before giving her a kiss on the forehead. Ella smiled back before a small frown settled on her face, "You were kidding before though right? About dating uncle Puck," she asked, unable to keep herself from inquiring further even though she still didn't really want an answer.

"I suppose I may have exaggerated in saying Brittany ever actually _dated_ him."

Ella stood totally stunned as her mother gave her a final kiss and started down the ladder, eventually snapping out of her haze she dashed to the edge of the low built wall and called down, "That's not funny!"

Santana didn't turn around and only shouted back, "Dinner's ready in ten."

Standing up above the houses in her neighborhood she found she could find it in her to believe she could find someone like her mother had, she believed that the other Santana had found her Brittany and together they were happy as they always should have been in a relationship that was stronger from their time apart, but she did _not_ believe that jovial, fun, loving uncle Puck had slept with both her parents. That was too far into the realm of fantasy, even for her.

* * *

A/N: Tale of a chapter lost

So way back I said there was a missing draft of Random Glimpses. What is actually was, was a telling of the story had the Magic Christmas Man not stepped in.

The idea came from my friend Milo who initially asked why, whoever Magic Christmas Man was, did he bother helping Santana. Granted she was pretty unhappy but her life wasn't so bad it warranted bending space and time beyond him being a secret Brittana fan. My answer was that what would have happened was so tragic he wanted to fix Ohio Santana's life and upon investigating her possible timelines came across Boston Santana and saw a way to fix both.

Milo's reaction was to scoff and say the worst case scenario wouldn't have been that bad, divorce would have been about it and that wasn't the end of the world. I took that as a challenge to write an outcome so tragic anyone with time space abilities and a soul would have to fix it.

Hence the original side story.

It went as follows:

Santana was caught with Selena (by Brittany) and it caused all the damage being seen in a compromising position like that could.

Brittany is distraught and kicks Santana out but Santana, unwilling to give up, is determined to try and repair their relationship. She ends things with Selena and goes to her house to try and talk to Brittany.

She catches her returning home from bringing the girls to school and Brittany is furious enough to unleash her anger in the driveway. Santana is content to let her get it all out and while this is happening Ella and Violet are off to the side, Ella being the only one who understands what it is all about.

At that point Selena shows up with a crazed If I Can't Have You No One Can plan and attempts to kill Santana with her car but hits Ella instead.

Ella dies in the yard while Santana and Brittany are helpless to do anything.

Before she dies Ella apologizes for saying she would tell letting Brittany know she knew and making Santana feel even lower.

Afterwards the split is inevitable, Santana stays in a motel and sees Violet once a month.

Puck tries, to no avail, to fix them but they are too broken, it comes to a head when he goes to visit Santana to find she killed herself in the bathtub.

Brittany is completely crippled by grief leaving Violet to deal with her sister's death, her parents divorce and the desertion by both (Santana physically and Brittany mentally). She can't figure out why she wasn't important enough for them to hold it together and turns to drugs at a young age.

The end.

That horror story was written, read and deleted… by both of us LOL.

I didn't ever want to read it again so I deleted it thinking if for whatever reason I wanted to Milo had a copy but she did the same thing for the same reason XP

In the end, despite how Milo thought it was my most well written work to date, we both felt it was for the best that it was destroyed.

But now you know why Magic Christmas Man had to act .


	3. Story Time

**Story 03: Story Time - Florida Universe (Violet, age 7)**

Violet's eyes dashed back and forth from one parent to the other.

Something was wrong.

Something was very wrong but she couldn't tell what just yet, quickly she glanced to Aurora; her youngest sister was in her high chair chewing on her spoon and seemed more interested in it than the food in front of her.

No good.

So she looked to Ella who was sitting next to her at the dinner table. Her middle sister was swirling her food around and staring at her plate with a frown, making the small blonde frown as well.

Violet knew she was exceptionally bad at understanding people, her friends told her that all the time. She was never on the same page as everyone else, so when it came to understanding a situation she always looked to the only person she knew how to comprehend; Ella.

Granted her sister was incredibly complex and no one seemed to know what she was actually thinking at any given moment, but reading her expressions was easy if she paid close attention. And the way her little sister was looking now was the unhappy stare she used when something was wrong around her, meaning she felt _it_ too. The uncomfortable vibe passing between their parents.

Their words to each other were short and tense and it seemed like they were trying exceptionally hard not to look at each other. Violet frowned harder because there was something else, something major was missing that she felt she should be able to see easily. It was maddening like looking at a _Where's Waldo_ picture for over an hour and not seeing hide nor hair of a guy she _knew_ was there.

She stared heavily for another minute before she put down her fork and raised both hands up in a pose she had seen on television before, with her thumbs and pointer fingers touching to make a frame. Closing one eye she framed her parents with her fingers to try and visually minimize the amount of space she was searching. The problem was with them, just them, everything else was a distraction. She cut out the window, the counter, the refrigerator, Ella, Aurora, part of the table and most of the wall. She framed her parents together with as little extra space as she could and then suddenly it was really obvious.

They were sitting next to each other, yet were totally and completely apart, and that was incredibly weird. Usually they were connected somehow, even if it was a pinky or a loving stare they were always in contact. Looking under the table she saw their legs weren't even touching and that clenched it for her, something was very wrong. Violet sat back in her chair, her actions unremarked upon since things like framing people in the middle of dinner was commonplace with her, and tapped her finger on the table.

Violet lacked patience, even she knew it was a problem, she possessed the ability to be patient but never saw the point if there was an available shortcut. Right now her parents were acting very strange and the simplest way to figure out why would be to ask. But she remembered, as Ella had told her time and time again, that asking things like that was rude.

Her finger tapped more rapidly as she watched her mama ask for salt that her mom slid over without even glancing in her direction.

She tapped harder.

"Violet," Santana said warningly looking at the noise making-finger.

"Sorry," she said quickly and chewed her nails instead.

She wanted to ask, she _really_ wanted to ask, and after a few more seconds she decided she would but as she took a breath to do so she felt Ella elbow her.

Her eyes snapped to the other girl who was shaking her head slowly, Violet got the message and stuck her nail back between her teeth again. It was true that there were things she didn't want people asking her about but whenever she was angry she had no problem telling everyone around her why so she didn't quite get why it would be bad to ask. Especially since these were her mothers and they knew better than anyone she didn't mean any harm, but if Ella was telling her to back down she felt she should listen for the moment.

Dinner was finished in a tense silence and once she and Ella had changed into their pajamas Santana came in to tuck them in while Brittany put Aurora to bed in her room next door. Violet almost had to bite her tongue to keep from asking the question that was burning a hole in her throat because when Brittany came to their room her parents started acting even weirder. Her mom tucked her in and gave her a kiss but seemed totally distant when her mama came over to do the same.

She watched them avoid each other at Ella's bed as well and it felt completely wrong, like a leotard made out of cheese graters. The moment they turned out the lights and were out of sight she leapt out of bed. Quietly she leaned out into the hallway to see her mothers walking down the hall not saying a word and heading in completely different directions when they reached the end. Like they hadn't even seen each other.

Leaning back in she turned to see Ella sitting straight up in her bed looking worried, "You shouldn't watch them like that," she said quietly.

"Why not? And why can't I ask them what's wrong?" Violet asked, her frown back in place.

Ella looked at the door as if their parents were somehow visible on the other side, "They're mad at each other. They don't want us to know they're fighting, it might make it worse to ask about it."

She gaped at the small girl. And people said _she_ came up with weird stuff, she thought it was way weirder how her sister could look at the same people she was and see something completely different. Violet supposed she might see the same thing if she took the time to look, when she focused on her mama she could tell when she was being serious about the random things she said and when she was playing along. On the whole she found it too hard and getting it wrong was always upsetting so she hardly ever tried, but even on her best day she couldn't see the things Ella could.

"How do you know all that?"

Ella shrugged, "I know they're mad at each other cause if they were angry with us they would have said so, and adults never like it when you know they're arguing."

Her sister was being perceptive again, she was like a groundhog with x-ray vision for feelings, the problem was she tended to hide before she could share her own with anyone.

Violet started to pace the room, "But I need to know why they're upset at each other."

"How come? Knowing won't fix anything."

Violet stopped mid-stride and looked at her sister, the girl was dead right, even if she knew the problem it wouldn't solve anything. Granted she was curious but she really only wanted them to be happy together again. So what she needed was not to figure out why they were fighting, but to figure out how to make them like each other again.

Her sister wasn't just an x-ray groundhog, she was a _genius_ x-ray groundhog.

"You're right, we only need to get them to stop fighting, not find out why."

Ella looked unsure, "Maybe we should leave them alone, sometimes when you and I fight we stop without mom or mama there to make us."

"Yeah but when grownups fight it can get way worse. You know my friend Ryan? Her parents got divorced 'cause of a fight they got into." When Ella's face turned positively stricken Violet added, "But her parents fought all the time I think."

"They won't get a divorce," Ella said, but it was with a quaver that Violet understood to mean she didn't believe her own words.

"I don't think they will either but this has to stop," she said before climbing into bed.

She was wide awake, but needed to be still and think, she needed a plan to get her parents back to the way they were.

* * *

The morning came and to Violet and Ella's dismay nothing had changed overnight, their mothers were still avoiding dealing with each other directly. Violet felt disheartened when, after their mama loaded them into the car for school, her mom came out and gave her and Ella a kiss goodbye before returning to the house without even waving to Brittany.

It was like watching a snow unicorn melt.

Violet squirmed in her seat because she hadn't come up with anything during the night and it seemed to her that this wasn't going to resolve itself.

School went by far too slowly and by lunch she had almost entirely filled up her notebook with ideas for how to make her parents talk to each other. She had also systematically drawn a line through each one as she had come up with one reason or another they wouldn't work.

When she went to her cubbyhole to retrieve her lunchbox she felt a shoulder intentionally shove her out of her deep thoughts.

"S'up?" Joseph asked as he grabbed his own lunch.

Violet considered him for a moment, the boy always forcibly reminded her of both aunt Quinn and uncle Puck at the same time. He was right in the middle of being both which was why she called him Middle Man from time to time; though he never got it and she never felt the need to explain it.

"Do your parents ever fight?" she asked as they walked to the door to line up.

He frowned at her, "Uh, you know they fight like all the time."

"No not like that, I mean really fight, like get super mad at each other and not even want to touch or anything."

"Oh," he said, thinking it over. "A couple of times I guess but it didn't last too long."

"What made them stop?"

"Heck if I know," he said quietly as their teacher shushed the line so they could walk out into the hall and towards the lunchroom.

Violet was quiet for a while then asked, "Do you know a way to make parents… I don't know, work together?"

"Um," Joseph said thinking, "Whenever I get in trouble at school they team up on me."

"Don't do that, that's a bad idea," said a familiar voice from behind them.

Violet turned saw that her friend Ryan was the one who had spoken, the brunette was standing behind her in line looking at them worriedly. She made Violet think of a twitchy prairie dog though she couldn't put her finger on exactly why since the girl looked more like a basset hound.

_Maybe it would be easier to think of her as a small, thin, twitchy basset hound…_

"What do you mean?" Violet asked.

"If you get in trouble usually parents don't team up, they blame each other about whose fault it was that you got in trouble."

Joseph rolled his eyes, "Stop butting into other people's conversations."

Ryan fell silent but once they entered the lunch room and chose seats she started up again.

"My mom said that if my dad had just listened to her needs then their divorce never would have happened."

Violet frowned, "That doesn't make any sense."

Ryan sighed, "Didn't to me either but it's what she said."

"Are your moms fighting?" Joseph asked looking concerned.

"I think so, but not out loud, they just seem mad."

"About what?"

"I don't know and I don't care, I just want to figure out how to make them stop."

"What if you just told them to quit it," Joseph said simply.

Violet shook her head, "I want to, but Ella says we can't let them know we know they're fighting."

"Yeah, that makes them fight way more," Ryan said in her know-it-all voice.

"All I need is to figure out how to fix them, but I'm not good with this stuff like this," she said opening her lunch box and taking out the cookies her mom made her first, "What makes adults fight?"

"Everything," Ryan said right away before taking a bite of her sandwich.

Joseph looked up at the ceiling for a moment, "She's right," he concluded, "my mom and dad argue about stuff, but… it's not like angry arguing." His face twisted with his explanation as if he didn't quite know how to phrase his words.

"I know what you mean," Violet said.

She knew aunt Quinn got mad at uncle Puck a lot but she had never once felt like she was truly angry at him. At least not the way her parents were now.

Taking a bite of her cookie, she chewed worriedly, "Do you think it's about me or my sisters?" she asked Ryan as she seemed to know the most about this.

"Maybe, my parents said it had nothing to do with me, but when they'd yell at each other I'd hear my name a lot."

"My moms aren't yelling, I haven't even really seen them fight, but Ella is sure they are."

"Maybe someone got called a name," Joseph added, "I yell at Caleb all the time and he gets maddest when I call him a stupid face."

"Once my dad took my mom's razor without asking and they fought about it for three days," Ryan offered.

"One time I hit Caleb in the head with the tv remote and _everyone_ was mad at me for a while."

Violet sighed deeply, deciding to give up explaining that the cause of the fight wasn't the issue.

"Ooh! My dad used to get really mad when my mom would ogle men at the mall," the small brunette girl chimed, suddenly remembering.

"How do you ogle someone?" Violet asked.

Ryan seemed perturbed, "I dunno that one either, they said a lot of stuff about each other I still don't get."

"It has to be something like that," Joseph said, "I mean how many ways are there to start a fight with somebody?"

Violet scowled, because she realized that all her options had only one solution, for one or both of her parents to apologize, and if they were really going to do that they would have already.

"How do you make people say sorry to each other when they don't want to?" she asked, thinking hard about a time where she or Ella hadn't wanted to apologize.

She hated fighting with her sister so the situation had never come up.

Joseph took a large bite out of his recently unpacked pizza roll, "My mom makth me'n Caleb sit inna same room till we geddalong," he said through his food.

And then the light clicked above Violet's head; she had an idea.

* * *

After school she came home to find that nothing had changed, her mothers still weren't speaking to each other, but Violet wasn't stressed, she was ready for this.

Deciding to first try the most basic tactic she tried to lock them in the same room together. She convinced Brittany that there was something only she could get from Santana's office and pulled the door shut only to immediately realize the fallacy in trying to lock someone in a room that locked from the _inside_.

Undaunted she moved on to her next plan which was to lock them out of the house, but remembered her mama kept a spare key outside beyond her reach. And she had even attempted to reach it, with the hopes of hiding it, but was quickly found out and forced to come inside.

The night grew late and Violet began to feel more desperate, she ate another dinner without the sound of her parent's laughter and it made her more worried than ever.

But she wouldn't give up, through the whole meal she tried to think of some way to force them in the same area for some amount of time. Preferably in a way that had them close enough to touch or talk, but she came up blank.

Until her eyes fell on the refrigerator, almost covered in her drawings and she knew exactly what she had to do.

* * *

"Violet are you sure this is due tomorrow?" Brittany asked as she sat on the couch.

The small blonde nodded vigorously as she set up her easel and placed her paints on the mat at her feet.

"Yup it's super important, gotta get it done. I totally forgot to do it earlier," she said while picking up her palate and mixing a glob of red and yellow.

Santana stood at the doorway of the living room looking slightly disgruntled, "Can't you take the incomplete like every other student in the world."

"Santana," Brittany said, glaring at her wife.

Violet watched her mom let out a puff of air and move to sit on the other side of the couch.

"No, I need you to be way closer," she said simply as she continued to mix her colors.

"How close?" Santana asked scooting over.

"You should sit in mama's lap," Violet said casually.

"And what kind of assignment is this?" her mom asked, standing back up.

"It's for art, I have to draw you and mama together."

"Well, side by side is together enough."

"I don't have a lot of room on the paper," the small blonde pouted.

"Draw small," Santana shot back.

"Oh don't be such a child," Brittany growled and pulled Santana into her lap wrapping her arms stiffly around her wife and resting her head on the smaller woman's shoulder.

The position looked as forced as it was and they both seemed incredibly uncomfortable with it, but as it was the most success Violet had managed all night so the girl was pleased.

Violet placed the large sketch pad down and nodded approvingly at how it shielded her completely from their view. She needed them to feel alone even if they weren't so they could say sorry without feeling watched. Violet didn't really like saying stuff like that in front of others and she hid from them under the assumption that they felt the same. Plus a watched boil never pops, at least that's what her mama told her.

The truth was there was no such assignment, and furthermore Violet wasn't really in the mood to paint. But she put brush to canvas anyway to put on a convincing show and in the hopes of distracting her parents from noticing she wasn't even trying to look at them as she worked.

However she knew she needed something else to keep their minds off how much time was passing since she planned to keep them on the couch as long as possible, or at least until they made up.

"Hey, I was working on a new story, wanna hear it?" she asked.

"Sure baby," Brittany said from the other side of the paper.

Violet was uncharacteristically quiet as she tried to come up with a story on the spot, having not actually thought that far ahead. Taking a deep breath she cleared her throat and looked at the orange mixture on the end of her brush as she dabbed it on the paper. She squinted at the way the blob seemed to have ears and decided to work from there.

"Once upon a time there was a robot fox and a giant gecko with laser beam eyes," she started as she began to paint the story she was telling instead of her waiting subjects, "They lived on a pig ranch in space and every day they would go out onto the planet and have fun. But one day the gecko accidentally shot the fox with his lasers and the fox blew up."

"That's… incredibly sad," Santana said.

Violet's head poked out to find her mothers just as she'd left them, "It's not over yet," she said before disappearing back behind the paper. "The farmer who owned the pig farm was also a scientist and he rebuilt the fox, but the fox was super mad at the gecko, because he blew up his old body. The gecko was sorry, but he didn't get a chance to say so, 'cause the fox was so mad he started calling the gecko names."

Violet paused and poked her head out again to see that nothing had changed, and decided she was watching too much, at this rate the boil would never pop.

"The gecko was sorry, but when he got called names it made him really mad so he threw space rocks at the fox and hit him in the head. The fox didn't have any weapons in his new robot body so instead he stole the gecko's awesome space cruiser." Violet found herself lost in her own story as she began to paint the gecko's cruiser, only vaguely remembering the story had a point. "While the gecko and the fox were fighting, all the space pigs saw it and got worried, because they had been such good friends before and it was sad and scary to watch them be mad at each other. So the pigs used their bacon power to show the fox and the gecko the future where they were friends again and having lots and lots of fun. The fox and the gecko were still mad at each other, but the future the space pigs showed them looked fun and they asked how they could get to that future. The space pigs told them they only had to say sorry and they could have the future right now, so they did and everyone was really happy."

Violet thought for a minute about her story, she was pretty sure she had covered every possible argument starter Joseph and Ryan had mentioned. Then again she was pretty sure adults had lots more ways to make each other mad, and she had left out ogling but only because she still wasn't sure what it was.

She put the final touches on her painting, that at this point looked like a large comic book page, and smiled. If nothing else she had made a really neat picture.

Tentatively she poked her head out to see if she could get away with telling them another story. Hoping this time to make it longer and highlight the importance of friendship, apologies and letting children have dessert before dinner.

However, instead of seeing blue and brown eyes staring at her, she found her mothers staring at each other in a familiar way that even Violet could read. They could talk to each other with their eyes and it was clear they were doing so now, and from the looks on their faces their eyes were saying mushy stuff. Even if she had missed their renewed eye contact, their physical embrace was much closer and way more natural, leaving Violet to smile to herself for a job well done.

Quietly she packed up her supplies and left to put them away leaving Brittany and Santana to finish their silent conversation.

It wasn't long before it was time for bed and her mama came in to tuck her in while her mom put Aurora to sleep, and when her mom came in it was like it had always been. They were close and sending each other those soft looks that make Violet want to make gagging noises, but since it meant they were better, she kept her noises to herself.

Once they left, both Violet and Ella sat up, looking at each other with big grins on their faces.

"They're not angry at each other anymore," Ella said happily.

"I know, I took care of it," Violet replied proudly.

"How?"

"Story time can fix anything."

Ella blinked slowly and Violet had recently come to understand that meant she didn't understand what was just said.

"I told them a story, I think either it or making them hold each other helped," she clarified.

Ella seemed just as confused but shrugged, "I'm just happy it worked," she said before settling back down in her bed.

Violet did the same but found she was entirely too worried to sleep, sure she had seen them look normal again but she could sometimes be very off in her guesses about things. Then she remembered that Ella had seen the same thing and was able to rest once more... before waking, realizing that they could have just been acting.

Maybe they had seen through her story and had just pretended to be happy again, that was the kind of things grown-ups did.

Worried again, she leapt out of bed and crept to the open doorway of her bedroom, cautiously she looked down the hall and, seeing nothing, walked silently through it. When she reached the end she peaked around the corner and into the living room expecting to have to slip out to the foot of the stairs to make it up to her parent's bedroom, however that proved unnecessary.

There, in the living room on the couch, were her mom and mama laying comfortably in each other's arms kissing in a slow, loving way. Violet scrunched her nose and barely contained her look of disgust; she could _not_ at all understand why adults liked to do that so much. Though she did get it meant that they were really and truly okay, that they hadn't been faking, and it was enough for her.

Violet turned on her heels and dashed back to her bed on silent feet, leaping under her covers and snuggling in, finally at peace.

The room was quiet for a long time before she heard Ella behind her, "What happens if they fight again?" she asked in a small voice.

"I'll tell 'em another story. This time I think it'll be about a mermaid were-tiger and a vegan puppy."

* * *

A/N: Violet's POV courtesy of reader request, there can be more if you'd like. This story was originally the same but from Brittany's POV but I didn't think it was really needed so I scrapped it. However when people started to know more about Violet the story was repurposed, which means that yes I do know what the argument was about. But it doesn't matter here so I aint tellin' XP. Suffice to say that Violet had the sum of it at the very beginning of her story and that in this case Brittany was the gecko. In any case the fight was over something quite minor, one of those things that they would have worked out on their own, but Violet isn't that patient :)


	4. Story Time (The Flip Side)

**Story 04: Story Time (The Flip Side) - Florida Universe (Brittany)**

Brittany focused on the road as hard as she could; on the other cars, the street signs, anything that wasn't the way she was feeling at the moment.

Ella sat next to her strapped into her seat in her dance clothes happily eating a popsicle. And it was only the smile on the girl's face that kept Brittany from turning the car around and making a scene back at the Pop n' Lock.

She had brought her daughter in to join her in temporarily teaching Mike's advanced students while he was out sick. It was supposed to have been fun, a change of pace for Ella from practicing alone or with Violet. The class itself had gone exceptionally well, the students loved her and were totally blown away by how skilled she was at such a young age. Ella had even managed to memorize a few of the more complicated steps they were being taught and showed some of the older girls how it was done, making Brittany incredibly proud. They left the room in high spirits only to find a disturbance right outside the door.

A woman had looked in on the class and decided to cause an uproar because Ella had been with them. She had been loud and obnoxious, barreling down on Brittany demanding to know why the 'charity case' child was allowed to be tutored under her in an advanced setting when she was so 'clumsy and untalented' while her own daughter was forced to be 'under the subpar tutelage of no-name hacks.'

Luckily for the woman, when she yelled out her cruel words Ella was busy being fawned over by the lingering members of the class who were gathered around telling her what a good job she had done. So when Brittany ripped the woman a new one it was with quiet rage that did not have the impact she would have liked since she wanted very much for Ella to remain ignorant of the confrontation. She had only insulted the woman to tears and banned her from ever returning to their location, Brittany felt she may have overstepped her bounds as she was merely a substitute and an occasional teacher, but the woman had enraged her.

The only thing that stopped her verbal tirade was Ella's approach, the girl could read a mood with disturbing precision so she had thrown on a happy face, took her out for a treat and tried to forget the whole incident.

But she couldn't.

Ella had gone in her favorite dance clothes and as such they were well-worn and a little threadbare, which was merely evidence of how hard she worked to do as well as she did. That, as it turned out, had been the basis of the woman's assessment of her as a 'charity case', and the surprise on her face when she was informed whose child Ella was told Brittany it hadn't been the only thing that made her come to that conclusion.

It wasn't as if people making snap judgments about her children based on skin tone was new, often times when she was out with the girls and Santana other women thought they were two house wives giving their children a play date. Those sort of moments were irritating but not at all surprising or even unwanted as it gave her and Santana a chance to talk with them about how to deal with things like that. But this had been loud, rude and purposefully cutting, the woman had made disparaging comments to all the parents nearby about the 'charity case' child who was being given a privilege hers was denied. And the thing that bothered her the most was the thought of what would have happened had she not been there.

It would have been an adult ridiculing a child she believed to be of lesser means with no one to defend her. And Ella was so sensitive to other's words, had she heard what the woman said it would have hurt her deeply, even with Brittany there to back her up.

No, it didn't bother her; it made her furious.

"Mama, what's wrong?" Ella asked suddenly, snapping out of her thoughts.

Brittany realized with a start that she had been frowning deeply at the memories running through her head. Looking over at the passenger's seat she saw large, worried hazel eyes staring back at her.

"I'm fine, I think I'm forgetting to remember something," she laughed with joy she just didn't feel and a smile that almost hurt to put on.

It was clear Ella didn't totally buy it as she looked back down to her frozen treat before handing it over, "Do you want some of my popsicle?"

This time a real smile overtook Brittany's face and she accepted the offering, "I guess, just a little."

Seeing her mother genuinely happy Ella smiled back in that wide, open way she had and Brittany felt another pang of sorrow because she knew the world was full of people who would make that harder and harder for her to do.

* * *

When she finally pulled into the driveway, Brittany decided that it was well and truly time to forget about what happened. The woman was gone and, though she would have to confirm it with Mike, never coming back. Her daughter hadn't heard a word of the argument she'd had, so, at least for now, that crisis was averted.

She decided to think of Ella's earlier preoccupation as a blessing and get on with her day. And her day was waiting to pounce the moment she walked in the door. Violet greeted her in a rush of drawings and talking as she explained how the new airplane she designed was fueled by crayons while Aurora began to struggle from Santana's arms to get a greeting hug and kiss from her returning parent.

Brittany did it all with ease. She appeased Aurora while listening to Violet and even managing to give Santana a kiss before she vanished into the kitchen to make them lunch.

Ella sat close to her as Violet went over her presentation, explaining how the crayons would cause the plane to emit rainbows as it went, thereby helping the ozone, and Brittany let herself smile again.

No matter what bothered her in life, seeing her kids made her day - even when she came home to find that Violet had painted the living room wall with condiments from the refrigerator or that Ella had broken the replacement lava lamp and tried to hide it under the rug. Even when little Aurora went through her phase of thinking throwing things to hit her mothers in the face was the highest form of comedy.

Even now, after all this time, she could hardly believe the two carefree cheerleaders who had roamed the halls of McKinley now had a family together. One she wanted to expand a little more. She wasn't looking forward to doctor's visits, morning sickness and especially not the actual birth, but she very much wanted one more child. Something Santana readily agreed to, but seemed to not understand.

Brittany had tried to explain herself, but the right words just weren't there. She had tried to explain how she felt when she saw Santana playing with their kids, or how amazed she was with their children and how they taught her as much as she taught them. It was true that she wanted a large family, and realistically with the five of them they had reached that goal, but she wasn't ready to quit. Somehow she was never able to convey that it wasn't that she just wanted more children because of some preconceived notion of family, it was because she saw the wonderful people their children were and the remarkable adults they would become. They had each changed her and Santana's lives in different, astonishing ways and they were still so young. She wasn't ready to stop yet, because in the back of her mind she always wondered what their next child would be like, how he or she would change their lives, and of all the love they would bring.

When she would word those thoughts to Santana it would merely boil down to, 'I love raising kids with you', and her wife would nod and smile, however, Brittany couldn't help feeling as though she didn't really get it. But it didn't matter, they were happy and Santana was more than willing to risk her pregnancy mood swings in conjunction with watching over the girls when she wasn't as mobile.

Once more lost in her thoughts, Violet brought her back with a grand flourish, "And that's my Rainbow Plane. Do you think people would ride it?"

For some reason, despite all the positivity she felt before, even with Aurora happily tugging at her necklace and Ella marveling at some of the action drawings of Violet's plane, she suddenly felt bad. She covered her pause by praising Violet's work and complimenting her attention to detail, but in the back of her mind that sad, angry part of her said, 'No, they probably wouldn't even look at the design, either because you're a girl, you have two mothers or both.'

Immediately she recognized that her earlier mood hadn't really dissipated, she was still bitter and angry at the woman and every person in the world like her. The mood had seeped in and still stuck to her like cigarette smoke, she wasn't sure why she was having such a hard time shaking it. Maybe because it had come so close to being something that may have forced her to put her daughter to bed with tears in her eyes and a bruise on her heart that was the first of many lessons on how the world could be very cold. Or maybe it was because it had happened in a place she always felt was a home away from home, the studio, before that moment, had held nothing but the best memories. It was where Santana found her for the first time and it was where she first learned she was going to be a mother. It was where she stood teaching a class, wondering how she would make it another week without her family only to have them appear, seemingly out of thin air.

Knowing she needed to get herself in check she threw herself into her conversation with Violet and Ella over the plane's color palette until Santana called for them to come and eat.

* * *

Cautiously, Brittany placed Aurora into her crib, smiling at the way the girl seemed to simply turn off when it was time for her nap. The amusement she felt melted when the same black mood that had persisted through lunch returned. And instead of it being a direct response to thoughts of the woman at the studio it was now simply a dark cloud of general anger. She kept herself calm during lunch, but she knew that she needed to find a way to keep her issues from creating a new one.

After making sure Violet and Ella were playing quietly in their room she marched upstairs to follow Aurora's example and take a nap, hoping sleep would rid her of her funk.

Santana was already there, pacing the room while on the phone with someone who was apparently giving her very serious news as she wore a very serious face. Brittany went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and changed into her lounging clothes before crawling under the covers.

She heard Santana say a hasty goodbye before she hung up and looked over to Brittany, "Turning in so soon?" she asked with a laugh.

"I'm sleepy," she grumbled, turning around, though she understood Santana's question, now was usually the time she would warm up downstairs before going over the routines she was creating.

Brittany felt a dip in the bed as Santana crawled next to her, "Are you feeling okay?" she asked, her mirth gone and replaced with concern.

"Yeah."

"Really? 'Cause you don't sound like it."

With a sigh she turned and looked her wife in the eye, "I swear I'm fine, I just need to sleep," she said, almost pleading, because she could feel her strained nerves fraying.

"Alright," Santana said slowly, standing to leave her in peace, "Oh, before I leave, how did things go at the studio? I know Ella was nervous about dancing in front of other people."

"She did great," Brittany answered shortly, feeling her temper spike just remembering it.

There was a pause before Santana replied, "She did great? That's all you have to say about it?"

"Yeah, we can talk more about it later."

"After you get over the thing that's not bothering you?" she laughed, "Okay, well, whenever you're ready I'm here to listen to how amazing Ella was and to hear about whatever has you acting so weird."

"I'm surprised you even have time to notice a difference in my mood in between phone calls."

The moment the words left her mouth Brittany winced, she knew she had done the very thing she had wanted to avoid since she came home. She had lashed out at her family as a result of someone else being an ass and it wasn't fair. Furthermore, she had managed to strike a critical blow since Santana had taken it rather hard to learn that Ella felt pushed aside due to her near constant phone activity. It was still something she was self conscious about and ever since took special care to work less when she was with family, going as far as to give clients a time limit on phone calls during the day and forbidding them all together during meals. Brittany had worked so hard to make her wife feel like it wasn't a cardinal sin to answer a phone when her family was in the room, and here she went acting as if it was still a problem.

Like Ella, Santana was extremely sensitive to cutting remarks and she knew what she had said hit where it would hurt the most. She knew she had to apologize, immediately, regardless of how upset she was feeling, there had been no excuse for what had come out of her mouth.

But as Ella was prone to going into a silent funk, usually feigning indifference until she was alone to cry, her mother had perfected the art of retaliation. Santana instinctually struck back when dealt such a heavy blow, which was why she knew what next came out of her wife's mouth was going to hurt.

"And I suppose I should stop working so you can support us on the dancing salary you don't make?"

Just like that the air between them was both ice cold and crackling with tension, Brittany sat up, her mouth hanging open in shock. She knew she had caused this, she knew Santana would simply say whatever she knew would hurt the most, not what she necessarily believed was true, however, it didn't stop Brittany from feeling like she had been punched.

They had gone over finances so many times it made her head hurt and Santana had told her almost daily that she not only didn't mind Brittany taking time off to create her own routines, she encouraged it. However, no matter how many times she heard the words there was always a part of her that felt guilt about allowing Santana to be responsible for five people on her own. Sure, they already owned their home and vehicles and there was enough saved up to easily carry their family through should, for some reason, every business venture Santana had bomb simultaneously. But at the end of the day she felt like she needed to contribute, even if it was to add to their surplus, it was something that she was quite insecure about and Santana knew it, so of course that was where she would strike.

And though Brittany understood all of this it didn't keep her from feeling almost sick with hurt and anger. An anger that had been steadily building since she had left Pop n' Lock.

"I suppose I should be like you then. Ignoring our children to make money we don't need."

Santana just glared back at her, because there was no response; Brittany knew she knew, because this argument was absurd. However, as stupid as they both knew this was the blows that had been dealt were deep and hurtful.

Brittany knew she owed Santana an apology, she had done absolutely nothing to deserve such harsh words, but Brittany's own pride was wounded to the point that she wouldn't bring herself to say it in the silence that fell.

So rather than say another word, Santana turned and left, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

Dinner was miserable.

Brittany wanted to simply say she was sorry, but every time she looked at Santana and saw that damn stubborn glower look back at her something in her clenched up and refused. Because at the end of the day she was owed one as well and something inside her didn't want to back down until she was sure she would get it.

They avoided all contact and it hurt her, because she knew the kids were picking up on it, if not Violet then definitely Ella. Luckily Aurora was still young enough to only care about the spoon full of peas coming at her mouth and that was what Brittany focused on, even when Violet took silent finger pictures of the table. She almost felt like a bad parent for not asking what she was doing as there was always an interesting tale behind her actions, but she really didn't want to risk her or Santana saying something to make matters worse. For now silence was best.

They put the kids to bed in the most painfully awkward way possible and Brittany was quite sure from the confused looks Violet was giving and the stoic silence Ella undertook that the kids were aware that something was wrong.

Still, she couldn't bring herself to simply resolve the issue. Instead, she went down to the basement and tried to exercise her frustrations out and, more importantly, give Santana time to change and go to sleep before she had to return and try to prepare for sleep in frigid silence.

It was late when she finally went to bed after having taken a shower in the downstairs bathroom and Santana appeared to be asleep when she opened the door, but she knew better. The woman was lying stiffly on her side and her wife was more of an all-over-the-place kind of sleeper, but if she wanted to play the silent game Brittany was not going to stop her.

She tried not to feel too depressed as she realized this was the first time they had seriously fought in their married life and it was ending with them going to bed angry. It only made her feel worse to know she could easily end it, but she just couldn't, because her own wounds were too fresh to pretend they didn't matter. That nagging feeling inside said that Santana truly thought of her as some sort of freeloader, that to apologize first would be to admit that it was true, to both of them.

Brittany _knew_ that wasn't really the case. She knew it, but it didn't change how she _felt_.

* * *

The following morning was the worst by far when she woke to find that Santana had moved and curled easily against her side in the night. Brittany had lain there, marveling that she had slipped an arm around her in return at some point, leaving them to wake in an embrace. However, as she lay there, trying to think of a nice way to dislodge her wife, Santana woke and practically snatched herself out of Brittany's arms as if angry she had drifted over in the first place.

Brittany wasn't sure if the other woman knew she was awake or not but decided to play sleep anyway until she was dressed and gone.

After, she followed her morning routine with the only major change being to avoid Santana entirely. Aurora got her morning kiss in her crib before she got the girls out to the car and waited patiently for Santana to come and see them off. Her wife came out and gave Violet and Ella a goodbye kiss before she turned and went back into the house without giving her so much as a backwards glance.

At that point Brittany was even angrier.

Why was Santana being _so_ pigheaded? Okay, granted, she was always pigheaded when it came to arguments, but this was ridiculous. They had both said stupid things and owed it to themselves, their children, and their marriage to sit down and talk.

It was the adult thing to do, but the stubborn little voice wasn't an adult and it told her that if Santana wasn't the first to apologize then she needed to at least be the first to communicate. Not to stomp around like she was the only person wronged, she needed to at least seem like she gave a shit that she made Brittany feel like some sort of failure.

So their day went on with only silence as Santana stayed locked in her office while Brittany looked after Aurora and when they traded off, Brittany shut herself in her studio and didn't leave until it was time to pick up the girls.

The longer they went in silence, the more concerned Brittany became for their relationship and the more determined she was to not be the one that broke first. Throughout the years she had always been the one begging Santana to sit down and talk with her and she was sick of it. If her wife couldn't suck up enough of her pride to begin a dialogue, then they would spend eternity in silence if they had to.

When she returned home with Violet and Ella she knew they had picked up on the fact that something was wrong. Her first hint was when her oldest daughter insisted she find something in Santana's office and attempted to shut her in. And if Violet had picked up on it Ella most assuredly had.

Their fight had been so minor, but as they ate dinner for a second night without saying a thing to one another Brittany began to feel like maybe it was something else. Santana's words could have been long held resentment instead of a sudden, quick comeback. She couldn't help the feeling of insecurity that crept down her back as dinner ended and shaped up to be another night in a quiet, cold bed.

She wondered how long it would go on before one asked the other to leave the bedroom.

But again stubborn pride insisted that if Santana was going to let her random statement, however hurtful, kill their entire marriage without saying a word then it truly wasn't meant to be. And she didn't honestly believe that would happen, Santana would break down and talk to her even if she had to do so in a defensive manner, but in the meantime their children looked between them like they were watching them being eaten alive by lions and it hurt to see. But of course Santana was too damn bull headed to even attempt casual conversation at the dinner table to feign everything being okay, leaving her even angrier than she had been before.

After dinner she decided to disappear into the basement until the girls were ready to go to bed as she was sure no one wanted to watch her and Santana dance around each other any more than they had to. However, she was kept from even attempting to stretch when Violet called her upstairs.

With a labored sigh she climbed the stairs and was surprised to see Santana standing there, looking disgruntled.

Violet stood between them with her paint supplies and large sketchbook, looking happily up at both of them, "I have an assignment due tomorrow for art, I gotta paint a picture of you guys together, but it has to be a real life pose, so will you pose for me?" she asked, her eyes wide and hopeful.

Brittany looked back at the stairwell to the basement and sighed again, "Yeah, I can do that sweetheart."

The small girl then turned to Santana, the expectant joy of having already receiving half a yes all over her face. As the smaller woman nodded, Brittany felt a little better when she saw that, no matter her mood, her animosity did not extend to their children.

"I guess so, where are you setting up?"

"The living room," Violet chimed before skipping ahead of them to prepare her work space.

Santana didn't even look at Brittany as they went into the room.

"Violet, are you sure this is due tomorrow?" Brittany asked, thinking back on Violet's homework chart, she didn't recall seeing such an assignment, but Violet was much better with schoolwork than she had ever been, so she supposed she should trust her.

The girl merely nodded as she set up and Brittany looked over to Santana to note she was still standing awkwardly off to the side.

"Yup, it's super important, gotta get it done. I totally forgot to do it earlier."

"Can't you take the incomplete like every other student in the world?" Santana griped from the doorway, looking like she was being asked to eat worms.

"Santana," Brittany said, sending a warning look in the smaller woman's direction.

Getting the message, Santana gave an irritated huff and marched over, plopping down as far away as she could and still be on the cushions.

Violet looked them over and shook her head, "No, I need you to be way closer."

"How close?" Santana asked, scooting marginally closer.

"You should sit in mama's lap," Violet said casually.

Brittany glanced to Santana who had gotten up altogether, "And what kind of assignment is this?"

"It's for art, I have to draw you and mama together."

"Well, side by side is together enough," she snapped and there was that stubborn streak that Brittany had been battling against since high school, and would continue to fight until they were old and grey.

"I don't have a lot of room on the paper," Violet said sadly.

"Draw small," Santana shot back.

Having had enough, Brittany decided to be the first to relent a little and reached over for Santana's hand, "Oh, don't be such a child," she growled, pulling Santana into her lap and hating how much she missed it. Grudgingly, she wrapped her arms around her wife and did everything in her power not to hold her any closer, the smell of her so close made her want to pull Santana to her instinctively.

"Hey, I was working on a new story, wanna hear it?" Violet asked suddenly.

"Sure, baby," Brittany said easily, resting her head more comfortably on Santana's shoulder.

"Once upon a time, there was a robot fox and a giant gecko with laser beam eyes. They lived on a pig ranch in space and every day they would go out onto the planet and have fun. But one day the gecko accidentally shot the fox with his lasers and the fox blew up."

"That's… incredibly sad," Santana said and Brittany suppressed a chuckle.

Violet's head appeared from behind the canvas "It's not over yet," she said, then vanished once more, "The farmer who owned the pig farm was also a scientist and he rebuilt the fox, but the fox was super mad at the gecko, because he blew up his old body. The gecko was sorry, but he didn't get a chance to say so, 'cause the fox was so mad he started calling the gecko names."

Her head appeared around the side of the canvas again and Brittany found herself wondering how long she would be forced to be so close to the woman she was furious with but wanted to cuddle so badly.

Violet's story continued and Brittany found herself half listening, half enjoying the smell of Santana's hair when a soft voice reached her ears.

"Maybe the robot fox kind of overreacted, I'm sure he knew the gecko didn't mean it." The words had come from Santana and Brittany had been paying just enough attention to know what she was saying, and before she could respond the smaller woman went on, "I don't know about the gecko, but I know the fox is really sorry about what happened."

Brittany looked at the woman in her arms to find Santana staring at her with open, apologetic eyes and instantly she felt foolish for having drawn things out so long. Sure, she was always the one to force Santana to talk, but that was just how they worked, they couldn't both be stubborn, because then small fights would drag on for days. Somewhere along the way she forgot that. It was also not lost on her that Santana sucking up her pride and apologizing first was no small matter, especially when she had been the first one wronged. Even if the apology was in the guise of a made up tale, she knew Santana pushed all else aside, because she too was sick of being distant from the person she needed most.

They were built to get along and it was time they let it happen.

As if a switch had been flicked Santana melted into her arms and Brittany held her back, feeling almost lightheaded with joy that their estrangement was over.

"I know the gecko is very, very sorry," she said with a small smile and looked deeply into brown eyes to show all the truth in that statement.

And for some time their stares sent silent apologies and declarations of love, as they held one another and relished in the contact that had been cut for far too long.

When the trance broke they realized they were alone and that it was time to put the kids to bed. Brittany stood and went to get the girls in the tub while Santana went to give Aurora her bath, they didn't say anything to each other as they parted, but it was a comfortable, loving silence. One that was rekindled when they met back in the girl's room to tuck them in, and when they left the bond didn't break which was why Brittany wasn't surprised that they didn't make it past the couch when Santana started kissing her.

They wound up laying on it, kissing slowly as if to make up for each one they hadn't shared since the day before. And after a short time their kisses became heavy with the weight of that lost time and Brittany didn't waste any more, dragging Santana up to their bedroom to make her feel just how missed she had been.

* * *

When the sun came through the window, waking Brittany, the world felt right again, and not just because of the natural, relaxed feeling that followed a night full of love making, but because Santana was curled up at her side with a relaxed smile. Still, when her wife's eyes opened and they looked at each other with a shared sense of love and calm Brittany knew their issue wasn't entirely settled, because she owed Santana more than that.

Regardless of their mutual silent apologies and affirmations Brittany needed to make herself clear verbally, because she knew the kind of damage she had done.

"You know I love the way you are with the girls, you are the best parent they could hope for. You give them all of your love and attention and anyone can see that. I didn't mean what I said at all, it was hurtful and mean spirited and you did nothing to deserve it."

Santana smiled before giving her a kiss, "I know you didn't, but I can be distant whenever I'm handling a business crisis and-"

"No, Santana, look at me," she said, demanding her wife's undivided attention, "You are an incredible mother and I wouldn't change a thing about how you handle work and family, you put us first no matter what. I shouldn't have said what I did, period," she said, looking into Santana's eyes, _needing_ her to understand that there had been no basis to her accusation.

"I know you know already, but I don't even know why I said that about you dancing, I couldn't be more content with things the way they are and I'm sorry I implied otherwise."

"I knew that even when I snapped back at you, I was just in a bad mood and it got taken out on you."

Santana looked down at the exposed skin above the sheets and began tracing circles along Brittany's collar bone, "Can I ask what had you so upset in the first place?"

Brittany rolled her eyes at herself, feeling a little ashamed of the tale, "I got into it with this woman at Pop n' Lock for making disparaging remarks about Ella being in my class."

"What?" her wife asked, sitting up as if she were about to find the woman and give her more of what Brittany had dished out.

"Yeah, she was upset, because she thought I was playing favorites to 'clumsy charity cases' and should teach her child who she believed to be a far better dancer," Brittany said bunching the covers over Santana's now exposed bosom, because she wanted to be able to finish the conversation and there was no way she could do that with the other woman looking so disheveled and naked.

"_Please_ tell me you went all Mama Bear on her ass."

"I did," she chuckled, "But not as much as I would have liked to, because Ella hadn't heard her and I wanted to keep it that way. I let my anger at her come out at you and I'm so sorry."

"Hey, enough apologizing. Trust me, I get it. You know I'm the queen of redirected anger, so if anything this was long overdue," she joked.

Brittany laughed and nuzzled closer to her, pulling Santana back into her arms in the process, "I don't want to ever go to bed angry again, it was depressing and kinda scary."

"Then it's a promise, no more sleeping while angry with each other," Santana said, sealing the deal with a kiss.

Brittany returned it before adding, "Sex after every argument needs to be a requirement."

"You're making me want to argue with you right now," Santana mumbled into her neck before placing her lips there.

It was impossible to not respond to the gesture and it took very little for their touches to turn to something more when the sound of heavy footfalls followed by a loud _thud_ made both of them sigh heavily.

"I suppose Violet is up," Brittany said before giving Santana a regretful, final kiss and standing to get dressed.

Santana sighed again and rolled out of bed as well, "You sure you want to have another one?" she joked.

Pulling on her underwear, Brittany began to search for a shirt, "Are you?" she laughed back.

It surprised her to feel arms wrap around her waist as Santana slipped behind her, "Definitely, I love raising children with you, too," before she could say anything else there was another louder _thud_, "even if they are trying to tear the house down one beam at a time."

Turning in her arms, Brittany attempted once more to say what she had been trying to for the longest, "For me, it's more than that, though, we make a good team, don't you think? For our kids? I think we do and that's why we should do it again."

Her face dropped a little, because that hadn't come out like she'd intended, once again the complexity of it didn't come out quite right, but Santana only smiled and laughed.

"We're awesome parents and we make awesome kids, I get it Britt, they make our lives better," _thud_, "even with the property damage," she finished before turning to the door, yelling, "Violet, what are you doing?!"

There was a long pause and another _thud_ before "Nothing!" filtered back up the stairs.

Santana rolled her eyes and went to finish dressing and went downstairs to find what their daughter was breaking and or creating while Brittany stood still at the dresser.

Because she was well and truly surprised and thrilled to find that Santana had understood her, but then again she always had. Her wife had always been the one to understand what she meant and it made her feel like she was the luckiest person in the world all over again.

* * *

A/N: Cause everyone wanted to know what that fight was about XP


	5. On The Other Hand

**Story 05: On The Other Hand** **– Ohio Universe (Ella age 14)**

At the end of a long week and the school portion of Friday behind her, Ella should have been far happier than she was on the bus ride home. Instead of talking with her friends she sort of just stared out the window, trying to digest the day.

To start with there had been Violet; Ella had gone to school to find her sister talking in a jovial manner with Paige Thompson, not a big deal and certainly nothing to take notice of. Unless one were to consider that Paige was one of the biggest bullies to ever live and had made her share of rude comments about her and Violet back before Joseph started teaching the school why no one should tease them. The girl was vain, petty, and mean, and up until that morning Violet would have nothing to do with her. Next thing she knows they are sharing a table at breakfast. It had mostly bothered Ella because she had always admired the way her sister gave no cares about what anyone else thought of her. She ignored any taunts and, being the prodigal child of the only married lesbian couple in their county, there were more than a few and no shortage of haters to pass them out.

Violet had been her guide on how to make it through high school without worrying about what others thought... Then she goes and makes friends with a professional bully.

And as if that hadn't been enough she had barely made it out of the cafeteria before she ran into Jayden and his flavor of the month girlfriend.

Once she and Jayden reached high school things changed dramatically for them, because even though Joseph would thrash anyone who said a negative word about her or Violet in or out of his hearing, it didn't stop all the bullying. He was handsome and talented with a football, so naturally all the other boys teased him for dating someone as unpopular and 'obviously a lesbian' as her. It hadn't really bothered her when he broke it off, maybe because their estrangement had been a gradual thing, yet when she turned the corner to see him all over some bimbo it stung.

Maybe it was because now that Violet had given in as well she just felt left out and a little worthless…

And if that wasn't bad enough at the end of the day she found Abby behind the school, smoking with the soon-to-be dropouts of McKinley High. At first she hadn't believed her eyes since the younger girl was still in middle school, but soon she realized that Abby had merely found this group while waiting for her parents to be done with their weekly principal visit.

Between Joseph and Caleb detention seemed standard and progress reports had to be given directly as any written assessments seemed to find themselves lost between the school and the Puckerman residence. An assessment that took long enough for her to go out and find people to smoke with and lose the scent before returning.

Abby had always seemed quiet, reserved, and diligent, she was polite to her mother, adoring of her father and seemed to hardly ever set a toe out of line. Which was all quite clearly an act.

The fact that the girl wasn't the angel she pretended to be didn't bother Ella so much as the fact that she hadn't seen it before. She had grown up with Abby and had somehow missed this side of someone she had known since she was in diapers. Just like Violet and Jayden, she thought she knew them, and then she didn't at all.

The bus finally stopped and she stepped off, listening to Violet ramble on about something she learned recently that was far too advanced for Ella to even pretend to know what she was talking about.

Once inside, Ella quietly did her homework with Violet, for all of the three minutes it took her to blaze through what she hadn't already finished. Ella considered asking her about Paige but at the last moment decided not to. If she had given in to the peer pressure to conform, Ella had no desire to call her out on it and make her feel any worse than she inevitably did. Honestly, she was a little glad Violet had been accepted so easily - she could use a social break. Not only did all the popular kids hate her, all the kids in her classes did too since she screwed up the grading curve.

Ella had barely finished her work when Aurora came running through the door, having just returned from school, followed by her parents and the twins who were fast asleep in their mothers' arms. In light of that, they all quietly greeted each other before her younger sister bounded to her side, eager to unpack her bookbag and spread her homework out in preparation for the assistance she always assumed Ella would give her.

"What's the rush?" Ella laughed.

"I wanna go outside and play, but momma said I can't 'til I finished my homework since I forgot all weekend last time," Aurora replied in a rush of breath as she pushed her math book closer to her sister.

Looking over all she still had left to do, she looked over to their older sister, "I'm a little busy, squirt, maybe Violet can help?"

Aurora shook her head, "No, Violet's too smart."

"I- I don't know if I'm insulted by that or not."

"Me either," Violet said from her spot on the couch.

"Your answers are more harder to understand than the question. Besides, my teachers always know when you helped."

Ella held back a laugh while Violet seemed to battle between correcting her sister's sentence and showing indignation at the accusation.

"She is right, Vi, you long ago lost the ability to dumb down answers," Ella offered kindly, thinking back on her own misadventures in getting her sister to help.

Having two siblings confirm that seemed to worry her, "I can do better," she said, leaping from the couch and to the book on the floor, practically snatching it from Ella's grasp. "What's your assignment?"

"Page two twelve," Aurora replied, looking apprehensively to Ella who could only offer a shrug in return.

She knew Violet took the news that she was too smart for grade school as an insult and a challenge more than a compliment.

The blonde opened to the correct page and skimmed it, "You know, there is a formula you can use to give you the right answer in, like, three steps for all of these-"

"Ella!" Aurora pleaded, "She's gonna put letters in my math again! I'm gonna fail!"

Violet looked scandalized, "They're variables and it isn't exactly advanced."

Ella sighed, "For someone who just learned their multiplication tables it is. How about you let me handle this one, huh?" she asked, knowing it was literally driving her sister crazy that she couldn't be of some assistance.

Grudgingly Violet handed the book back and Ella began to explain the process of long division. She wasn't surprised that her oldest sister stuck around to see in what way her tutelage was lacking. It wasn't long before Santana and Brittany returned from putting the twins down for a nap, and upon seeing Violet and Aurora crowded around Ella for an elementary math lesson Santana looked on them with confusion. But then her mom looked to her momma in that way that let them speak without speaking and they left without a word.

After Aurora's homework was done she oddly had to spend several more minutes coaching Violet on how to simplify her answers before returning to her own work. By the time she was done it was time to eat dinner, but then her phone rang.

She answered it without looking, expecting to hear the familiar background noise of the Puckerman household, but instead the line was mostly silent except for soft breathing.

"Hello?"

"Ella?" came a nervous voice. A familiar nervous voice.

"Bradley?"

"Oh! You sound like your momma," he laughed, but it was kind of choked and weird.

She decided he had said that due to whatever had him acting so oddly, because she was sure she sounded nothing like Santana, "Okay…"

"Uh," and now he sounded more nervous, "Hey, so uh, my dad, he has me going to this lame party thing for his job and I was wondering if you would go with me?"

Ella stared evenly at the space in front of her, glaring into the air as she tried to comprehend his offer. She could hear Violet and Aurora chiming for her to come to the table and knew if either of her parents caught her trying to skip a family meal to talk on the phone there would be words.

"What kind of party thing?"

"They're celebrating all his years at the company or whatever, but there'll be dancing and punch and stuff, so it'll be fun, well, with someone else there," he chuckled.

And all of a sudden her spider senses were tingling, "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"What?" he blustered before coughing and clearing his throat, "No…" There was a long pause on the line, "Yes."

Violet called for her again and she could feel the countdown before someone came looking for her, she didn't really have the time to let him down gently, but she didn't want to be rude either.

"Um, I'll have to check with my moms," she said, deciding that was her absolute best option.

"O-okay," he said and the relief in his voice made her feel a little bad about the no she had planned for the future.

"Alright, bye," she said quickly before hanging up and rushing to the table and purposefully not thinking about the conversation.

* * *

After dinner Brittany and Santana had left to sit on the swing in the yard, and oddly Ella felt drawn to go there as well. She had re-evaluated the situation with a fresh mind and was trying to work out how she felt, not just about him, but about everything that had happened that day. When it was hard for her to pin down her exact feelings her mothers had a way of seeing what they were before she did. Which was why she took it upon herself to join them even though if there was one thing she hated doing it was to interrupt her parents during their private time. For some reason whenever they were alone together it made her happy, remnants from a time where she worried if her momma had found someone else to love, she was sure, but that need took a back seat to her need for company.

Seeing her approach, her mom lifted her legs out of the way to allow her to sit. She was currently laying across Santana's lap and they looked to simply be enjoying the night. Once her daughter sat down Brittany swung her legs in Ella's lap and seemed to only be more comfortable for it.

"What's up, doc?" her mom asked with a smile.

"Is it just me or do things in life just change way too fast?"

Her momma laughed heartily, "All the time."

"It kind of sucks doesn't it? When everything is different for no reason? How does that even happen? How do things change overnight?"

"What has you thinking like this?" Brittany asked kindly.

"Nothing in particular," Ella said quickly.

"Oh, okay," she said in that airy way she had that let the girl know her mother was in no way fooled but was going to let it go.

Santana on the other hand seemed to want to press the issue; however, once again Brittany looked to her in that way and they seemed to have a brief, silent discussion before her momma huffed in defeat and rested her chin in her palm as she looked out over the yard. Her mom only smiled and played with Santana's hand until her wife begrudgingly smiled, too.

"Well, not all change is bad," Brittany said as if the exchange never happened, "Sometimes it's for the best."

"I know that," Ella said sadly, "But sometimes it's not, and it's so sudden you don't even have a chance to stop it. It makes you feel like your life is just passing by."

She could see Santana's need to press for the cause of that statement, but a few none verbal words from Brittany and she turned away once again.

"I wouldn't worry about that too much," her mom offered, "You're too young to have missed much. But sometimes life is like that, things are the same until they aren't all of a sudden. You'd be surprised what kind of things sneak up on you."

"Like holding your first child and then suddenly realizing you're teaching your fourth and fifth to speak," Santana sighed.

"But they don't happen to me," Ella huffed, "Everyone else gets to just wake up and change their minds about how to act."

Santana laughed again, "You think so? Because I remember when you loved to go outside and couldn't wait to get on a motocross bike and then one day you were too good for dirt."

Ella frowned, "That wasn't sudden."

It hadn't been at all, as a matter of fact she still liked motocross and the outdoors… from a distance. Mud ruined her clothes and since she had to save up for nice things it hardly seemed logical to go trudging through the woods and motocross made her hair a mess of tangles and mud. It was just too much hassle to deal with.

"You say that, but to me it seemed like I woke up and you were all dresses and hair bows."

Her mom nodded in confirmation, "And all of you seem to just grow when I'm not looking."

Santana scowled, "Violet's going to be taller than me soon."

"I like you just the height you are," Brittany offered sweetly and she was back to smiling just like that.

"Momma, do you think Bradley is a toolbag?" Ella asked suddenly, wondering if she shared the same opinion of her friend as she had of her boyfriend.

"Why?" she asked, alarmed, but once again Brittany told her something no one could hear but the woman she was speaking to. After a moment Santana calmed a little and answered, "Not entirely."

"He wants me to go with him to a party for his dad," she said casually, hoping it wouldn't send her momma into a frenzy like every time she had ever mentioned going somewhere with Jayden.

However, it was Brittany who responded first, "You agreed to go?"

"I said I'd ask you first," she said, actually hoping for a no, so she wouldn't have to lie and say they wouldn't let her go.

"I think Bradley's nice, and if his father's going to be there it's alright with me."

Ella looked to her momma for some sort of out, but the dark-haired woman was staring intently out at the yard again, "Sounds fine," she mumbled.

She suspected the forced complacency came from another quiet exchange, but either way her hopes for an easy escape were dashed.

"I'll let him know then…" she said slowly in the hopes they would change their minds, but they didn't.

The quiet of the night returned and Ella slipped from under her mom to stretch and walk back towards the house. She said a brief goodbye and as she walked away it made her smile to know that as she left they were talking in that soundless way they had, and that she knew it without even looking at them.

Back in the house, she headed for her room to find Violet seated between their bunk and Aurora's twin sized bed, reading their sister's math book.

"You cannot still be on that," Ella said with a roll of her eyes.

"It doesn't make any sense, I used to be able to pass for average," Violet said as if she had just discovered she had a tail no one had told her she'd grown.

"It's not a big deal, you're smart, just be you," Ella replied, hoping her words reached more than one level.

"I know I'm smart," her sister scoffed as if to insinuate otherwise was indeed proof of idiocy, "But I mean I used to be able to explain things simply, y'know."

"Yeah," and she did, she remembered the days when asking Violet for help on homework wasn't a chore in and of itself to try and understand the help she was offering. "But when you go to college you won't need to explain the basics to anyone, everyone will already know their times tables."

Violet didn't seem at all comforted and only chewed her nails as she continued to read, "Were these books always so woefully uninformative? How can you spend a whole year teaching this material?"

"Not everyone is as smart as you, Vi," Ella said suddenly a bit tired as she climbed into the bottom bunk to continue watching her sister from a more comfortable vantage point.

"Hmm," she replied as if she didn't actually believe that.

"Hey, Violet?" Ella said timidly, unable to let go of what she had seen earlier.

"Yeah?" the answer was absent and over the shoulder, Ella hoped her attention would stay split so as to make the conversation easier.

"Why were you hanging out with Paige this morning?"

"Just making friends."

"I saw that, but… with Paige?"

"She's a bitch, I know."

"You said a bad word!" Aurora announced as she came in the room, and upon seeing her math book in her sister's hands promptly turned around and rushed back out of the room.

Violet seemed almost devastated, "I am the _worst_ sister ever."

"What's up with you?" Ella asked sitting up.

Violet leaned back against the bed Ella was perched on, "Nothing," she sighed.

"Does-" she stopped, because she had already decided not to question the issue further, but in light of recent events she felt she had to ask, "Does all this have something to do with why you're friends with Paige all of a sudden?"

"A little, I mean it's not like we're actually friends, it's more like we're pretending. I offered to do a few of her assignments and then all of a sudden she was more than happy to let me join her stupid clique."

"Well, if you hate her so much why even try? Have her idiot friends been giving you a hard time?"

The room fell silent while Violet gnawed on her nails.

"Yeah," she answered quietly.

Ella almost launched off the bed to her sister's side, "If they are that bad, then tell mom or momma, and if you don't want to get teachers involved then at least tell Joseph."

"No, Ella, that's exactly it. This whole time we've been relying on Joseph and Caleb to keep bullies away and it isn't fair."

Looking at the blonde before her, Ella was distressed to discover that she didn't know where any of this was coming from. Violet tended to be a bit of an enigma to most people who knew her, but Ella had always worked hard to know her better. At the moment she felt like a total outsider to her sister's distress.

"So you want to stand up for yourself?" she asked, knowing that couldn't be the case, if the response was to befriend on of their lead tormentors.

"I just want them all to stop," Violet replied and the heavy silence that followed was one that Ella recognized. Her sister wanted the conversation to be over, but she couldn't leave it as it was.

"I understand that, but being her fake friend won't stop her from being an ass."

Abruptly Violet stood and placed Aurora's book back in her bookbag, "Maybe not, but I have to try. I have to try _something_," and with that she left the room.

Watching her go, Ella felt that same sensation of spiraling uneasiness that made her panic a little, because it was a feeling she associated with the shock of finding Ms. Novak in her home all over her momma. It was an unsettling feeling, and though her worries over that affair were long gone her fear of that feeling hadn't gone anywhere. The feeling that things were changing in some unforeseen way that could destroy everything she knew to be true.

She told herself that it was an overreaction, that it was indeed reasonable for Violet to want some peace at school. Yet it was something so unlike her to do Ella couldn't help but worry over what else her sister might agree to in the name of avoiding ridicule.

* * *

By the time the weekend had passed and she finally arrived at school again Ella felt more or less normal. Even when Violet branched off from her side and went to greet Paige she only sighed internally. Instead of following as she usually did at breakfast she sat alone at a small table near the back of the cafeteria to watch the two 'friends' laugh together.

With a sigh she decided to just accept it as it was, she knew that despite everything Violet's social awkwardness sometimes got to her, but it had never been this bad. If she had finally found a way to blend in with the witless idiots that floated around the school then so be it, they would always be family and that was all that mattered.

That's what she told herself, though she was still incredibly worried. Because Violet seemed depressed and defeated, and that was incredibly unusual for her. If this was a plan she had enacted with her usual spunk then maybe it would truly be alright, but as it was…

"Hey."

Ella turned and blinked for a few seconds before she had realized she had been joined at the table by Bradley.

She had completely forgotten about him.

_Scheiße!_

"Hi," she returned, feeling more than a little bad she had wiped his offer from her mind.

"I got you this," he said, offering her a silver necklace.

She was no expert on such things, but it looked expensive, too expensive to give a girl that hadn't said yes to anything. It also made letting him down that much harder. Especially when she accepted the gift, not really knowing how to shut him down with that hopeful look in his eyes.

"Thanks,"

"My dad's a jeweler," he said, which was silly, because she knew that, she knew both his parents quite well.

He was so nervous and she could see the question he wanted to ask hovering on his lips. There wasn't a lot of time to think, but here she was on the spot needing to figure out how not to sound as abrupt as Violet did most of the time. The seconds kept ticking by with her mouth hanging open in indecision.

"Yeah, uh, about the thing your dad's having, um, I can't go," she said, putting all the sorrow she felt into it. He looked like someone punched him in the heart and Ella was more than aware that she kind of had. Sadly, she handed him back the necklace, "I'm sorry."

With an impressive show of resolve he merely smiled at her and held up his hands, "I meant to give it to you anyway. It's a present, for, y'know, thinking about it."

Almost reluctantly she accepted it but didn't put it on, because she hardly felt like she deserved it, even by his flimsy standards. Quietly she slipped it into her coat pocket feeling like a genuinely bad person for the first time in a long time.

"Look, I-"

"Hey, I gotta go to the band room before school starts, so…" he said quickly before standing abruptly and vanishing from the room.

Ella turned back to her food, feeling worse than ever, and when she looked up she found she had caught Violet staring at her and then that whole debacle was fresh in her mind. Her sister was giving Ella her pensive stare that usually meant she had spotted something that no one else had.

It didn't matter, the bell rang and she couldn't have been happier to go to class and be lost under torrents of mindless work.

* * *

By midday she had more homework than she ever thought possible and a ton of reasons to skip P.E. and do it, but she had never skipped a class and began to suspect she never would. Happy to dwell on upcoming work, she failed to watch where she was going so when she turned from her locker after dropping off a few books she ran into someone who was standing unnecessarily close. When she tumbled to the floor the necklace flew out of her pocket and was picked up casually by a familiar, slender hand.

"Vi?" Ella questioned looking up at her sister who held the necklace in one hand and extended the other to help her up.

"Brad gave you this?"

"Yeah, so?" she grumbled and tried to snatch it back, but Violet held it out of reach.

"He was trying to ask you out?"

Was this what those discerning eyes had observed? Because it wouldn't have taken all that staring to figure it out. There was no need for her to pry silently or otherwise, because she already felt bad enough.

"I doesn't matter."

Violet observed her for a moment and handed the bracelet back, "Well, with him walking around like someone shot his dog I guess I already know he did and that you turned him down."

"So!" she snapped, because her sister was making her feel unbelievably bad.

"Why did you say no?"

"I have to get to class, we can talk about this later-"

"Not really, you kind of need to make up your mind about him fast. I'll tell you I think he's a nice guy and at this school that's like saying he's an earthbound unicorn."

"You mean a horse?"

"Yeah, but at a school… and with, like, a horn," she said and Ella could already see her imagination going off with it.

"Uh-huh," once more she tried to move from her locker, but Violet held her back.

"He really loves you a lot and all I'm asking is why is it so bad for you to give him a chance?"

"Why do you care?!" Ella snapped, getting the attention of nearby students.

"Because he told Aubry that he'd never been with a girl and Paige's weird little friend Melany shares seventh period with him and she thinks he's cute and that it would be fun to deflower him," Violet rattled off casually, "He'll follow her around for the rest of our high school career and beyond because we both know that's the kind of guy he is. And it'll be sad, because she'll break his heart over and over. I just wanted you to be sure you didn't actually want to let him even try to impress you before you sent him off into the arms of that wench."

"He wouldn't sleep with one of Paige's friends," and she had absolutely no clue as to why that was her comeback.

"He's a teenage boy with a broken heart, by high school standards he's earned it. Anyhow if you're sure you got it all figured then," Violet handed the necklace back to her, "keep the bling and leave the boy."

Ella took it back with a shaking hand, not understanding why she cared about anything Violet had said, "Well, since we're sharing intel, I want to let you know that your sister thinks you're an idiot for even hanging out with Paige in the first place!" she snapped, knowing it was in no way the right response.

Violet's face fell into confusion, "Aurora?"

"No, me!" Ella yelled in exasperation before marching away and not giving her a chance to respond.

And yet.

After her having what was essentially her first public fight with Violet, all she could really think about was Bradley. She attributed that to the fact that he sat in front of her in their literature class, but regardless the only thing dancing through her head was that Aubry was lurking in the shadows, willing for him climb into her diseased bed. Her momma had warned her about the dangers of playing around with sex and feelings and it was a little worrying to know he was going to fall for the same trap.

But she had never really thought of him as more than a friend. Bradley had always sort of been there for her, excluding of course the times he had teased her mercilessly when they were kids. He wanted to be her boyfriend and she knew it. She knew how unpopular that would make him and that it would only compound how much he was already teased, yet he still wanted to date her.

That was rather big of him she supposed.

It was more than Jayden had offered.

She didn't realize until halfway through the lesson that she had put his necklace on, and by the end she wasn't even surprised at herself when she stopped him in the hallway.

He still looked downtrodden and lost, but his face did brighten when he saw the sliver of silver she had attempted to hide under her collar.

"Hey, Bradley, about your dad's party," it was almost funny to watch him, because he was fighting so hard not to get his hopes up, "Um, I actually think I will go with you, if the offer's still open."

Bradley was nodding before words could even escape him, "Yeah, of course! My dad has a limo we can go in and everything!"

She couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm, and, alright, a little of her own happiness. At least this could be simple. Maybe it wouldn't develop into anything and maybe she could never see him as more than a friend, but saying yes to his offer hadn't left her feeling miserable and it wasn't a lead on since she genuinely wanted to go and give him a chance.

Bradley walked next to her in the hall, looking like he desperately wanted to hold her hand, but she didn't, best not let him get too far ahead of himself. This was barely a date after all. She thought that until she saw Violet at the end of the hall, her eyes sparkling in that way they did when she was laughing at some joke only she knew.

On the one hand she was irritated at whatever it was that had her sister so amused, but on the other she was happy she hadn't taken their little spat to heart.

Determined to ignore her, she turned her attention back to Bradley, "By the way, you might want avoid Melany, she's kind of horrible."

He nodded, "Okay," and then he paused, as if to question anything might make her retract her acceptance, "Who's Melany?"

"The girl in your seventh period class, she's friends with Paige."

"There's aren't any Melanys in my last class… but I'll look out anyway. Sure to be at least one in this school, right?" he laughed.

Her eyes went back to Violet's.

Those blue eyes were practically guffawing.

_I hate Violet sometimes._

Reluctantly she had to admit she never really hated her, and even though she was sometimes angry with her, sister now wasn't one of those times.

* * *

On the return ride home Ella said nothing to Violet even though it was obvious she was still tickled to death by her ridiculous, little trick.

Even on the walk back to the house from the bus stop they were silent, though Violet had actually taken up giggling slightly. Ella was a few amused trills from breaking that silence, but both of them halted in their tracks at the sight of what awaited them at the door.

There sat Quinn in a folding chair, looking like she had woken on the wrong side of the bed in the wrong house with Abby standing next to her wearing the proverbial cat-that-ate-the-canary expression. The girls approached cautiously, knowing that anyone who put a toe out of line when aunt Quinn had that face on was not likely to see the light of day again.

Once they were close the older woman's hazel eyes scanned them harshly before they snapped to Abby, "Violet and Ella are here, so go ahead and practice what I told you to say."

The youngest Puckerman looked horrified, "But, mom, I-"

It only look a look for Abby to turn towards them, her face red hot, "I was caught smoking at home yesterday and my parents realize now that it was I who left the cigarette butt on the porch last time I was here, so aunt B you shouldn't blame auntie Tana, 'cause it wasn't her."

Violet gave Ella a worried sidelong glance. No one knew how to react, the wrong move and they could both easily end up in just as much trouble with Quinn as pissed as she was.

"You won't do it again, right?" Violet asked.

Abby nodded, her face becoming even redder, "No."

"You promise?"

"Promise," she muttered in that muted, shy way that reminded Ella offhandedly of Bradley.

They both nodded a farewell and almost fearfully slipped into their house. Once inside, Ella breathed a sigh of relief and both waited until they were well out of earshot of the door to comment.

"She must really be mad, no one else is coming home for another hour or so," Ella said quietly, knowing her aunt's hearing was superhuman.

"I think it's part of the punishment, standing out in the sun until they come home," Violet replied as she unpacked her bookbag.

Ella gave the door another glance as if she could see the poor girl on the other side of it feeling even better, not because Abby was in trouble. An angry Quinn wasn't something she would wish on anyone, but she was glad that her parents weren't oblivious to her. Whether she actually stopped smoking or not was irrelevant, her parents weren't leaving her to do as she pleased. They weren't so caught up chasing around her brothers that she was left, forgotten to play the perfect daughter.

She remembered a time where she thought her momma may do just that, forget about her and give up trying to get to know her. And like with everything else to do with that time, she no longer held that fear, but she hadn't forgotten that feeling and would wish it on no one.

In fact, she'd rather have aunt Quinn be pissed at her all day every day than feel that way again.

Casually she sat down next to Violet and pulled out her homework but refused to start it until something had been cleared up, "Why did you lie?"

Her sister actually chuckled at the question, "Because I'm impatient. He is so infatuated with you and you obviously like him back. It's like one of those cheesy romance movies where the guy and the girl spend an hour and thirty minutes trying to pretend they aren't going to get together and then unsurprisingly they do."

"I do not obviously like him back!" Ella snapped, not even knowing if that was the point she wanted to argue.

"Yeah, you do, if you didn't you would have told him to back off a long time ago. I mean, that's why Jayden hated him. It wasn't because he was into you, it was because you liked him back. It was in your eyes," Violet added dramatically, batting her eyes.

"Whatever!"

"And maybe there is no Melany, but I'm sure there is someone like that waiting in the rafters, and I don't want to watch you guys go through the suck of hurting each other 'cause you're pretending not to care what the other does."

Ella raised a curious eyebrow, "Has that happened to you?"

"No, Joseph's had a rough time of it, but then again he is crazy pigheaded so it's inevitable."

Quiet filled the room for another moment before Ella said, "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"It's cool," Violet answered casually.

"I just _don't_ understand," she said, and the pleading tone in her voice must have convinced the other girl to open up.

"I'm not trying to get Paige and her losers to back off me for me. I'm doing it for this whole family," Ella tried not to look skeptical but clearly failed as Violet sighed heavily. "Look, Joseph is in detention so much he doesn't even sign out anymore. Caleb is well on his way to being thought of as another Puckerman hooligan and it's all in defense of us, or to be more accurate in defense of me, because we both know I'm the school's focal point. It's even worse when you consider that Caleb hates fighting, and hates getting in trouble more, but we both know he won't let anyone get away with bullying us. I mean those two are in trouble so much aunt Quinn is running out of punishments for them, they have almost singlehandedly fixed every broken pipe and tile in both our houses since she had to resort to chores. And that's on top of detention, whatever muscle melting punishment uncle Puck has them do and being grounded."

Put that way suddenly she felt like she could put in more of an effort to be nice to Paige.

"But it won't stop anything."

"It won't stop everyone everywhere, but I do nothing but antagonize Paige and her cronies, I call it on us and it's time I stopped."

"Then stop! You don't have to join her little camp!"

Violet only smiled, "Can you trust me? I got this big sister thing down. Other people might tease you and Joseph will probably get suspended or something over it, but the biggest asses in the school are off our case for now. And if it keeps Joseph out of detention for only a day or saves you an afternoon of hearing her cronies calling you names then it was worth it. It won't last forever, but it works for now."

"But you look so sad."

She laughed loudly, "Have you ever had a conversation with her? It is actually painful."

"You don't have to do it, you know."

Her smile slipped into a smirk, and she pulled Ella close to ruffle her hair, "I know, and I do it anyway."

"Why wouldn't you just tell me this in the first place?" she asked, pulling herself from her sister's grip.

Looking affronted her sister answered, "What kind of cool girl would I be if I went around blabbing all the awesome stuff I was going to do? Besides, you worry a lot about everything, and it seemed like you already had a lot on your mind."

She had in actuality, and though Violet's odd friendship with Paige turned into one of them she was infinitely happy that her sister knew her so well even if she couldn't read Violet with that level of expertise in return.

* * *

When their parents came home the twins were awake and making a ruckus, burying their mothers' words, though Ella still understood that they were being greeted and that Santana was gloating over her newly-proven innocence.

Aurora slid between them with her homework, and, upon seeing Violet, tried to hide it, but Ella promised to stay nearby and keep their oldest sister on the layman path.

It was a weekday, she had to had a mountain of homework, most of which wasn't hers, she had a date with a friend she was pretty sure she wasn't crushing on, not to mention her sister had made a deal with the teenaged devil.

Yet still, as she explained to Violet that the word 'coefficient' wasn't lay enough for their sister she found that she was quite happy. Especially about the necklace around her neck.

That made her think that maybe her older sister wasn't as out of touch with reality as she sometimes seemed.

Abby could go back to smoking, and Violet could get humiliated by Paige, having failed her mission after a week, and Bradley could end up with a broken heart from her attempt to see if friendship was the limit.

On the other hand maybe not.


End file.
